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1 











SYMBOLISM OF 
THE THREE DEGREES 


OLIVER DAV: STREET 



THE M. S. A. NATIONAL MASONIC LIBRARY 


The M. S. A. National Masonic Library presents, 
in a series of volumes of uniform binding and competent 
craftsmanship, the best results of Masonic research by 
masters of the Craft in America and abroad. The Li¬ 
brary will cover every aspect of Freemasonry, its ritual, 
its symbolism, its philosophy, its past history and present 
activities and development. Representing all recognized 
schools of Masonic thought, it will bring the best litera¬ 
ture of the Craft within reach of lodges and members. 

Symbolical Masonry 

by H. L. Haywood 

The Great Teachings of Masonry 
by H. L. Haywood 

The Beginnings of Freemasonry in America 
by Melvin M. Johnson 

Speculative Masonry 

by A. S. MacBride 
The Builders 

by Joseph Fort Newton 
The Men's House 

by Joseph Fort Newton 
Symbolism of the Three Degrees 
by Oliver Day Street 
The Philosophy of Masonry 
by Roscoe Pound 


Washington, D. C: THE MASONIC SERVICE 
ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES 


SYMBOLISM OF 
THE THREE DEGREES 

BY 

OLIVER DAY STREET 


NEW YORK 

GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 





COPYRIGHT, 1922, 1924, 

BY THE MASONIC SERVICE 
ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES 






SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 
-B- 

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 


NOV 11 *24 

©CIA S08814 


FOREWORD 

TO THE M. S. A. EDITION 

The new edition of this book, as it now appears, is 
almost a new book, in content as well as in format. Origi¬ 
nally little more than a pamphlet, poorly printed, it now 
takes its place—revised and enlarged by more than one- 
third—in the M. S. A. National Masonic Library, as a 
substantial and important contribution to the exposition 
of Masonic symbolism. It is not too much to say that 
it is the best book on the subject since Mackey wrote, and 
we believe it will be so recognised. 

The author proceeds upon the principle, ignored by so 
many, that Masonic symbols should have a Masonic inter¬ 
pretation, as determined by the history and teaching of 
the Craft. This saves him the trouble, and his readers the 
weariness, of wandering through the mazes of ancient 
lore in quest of imaginary meanings of symbols to which 
the Craft has given, tacitly or officially, its own interpre¬ 
tation. The comparative study of symbols, to say noth¬ 
ing of their varied meanings and migrations, is another 
subject, and is beyond the limits and purpose of this book. 

The book will be welcomed by the Craft as a practical 
and competent elucidation of its symbolism, and it is an 
honor to the Service Association to give it a worthy and 
permanent form. 


Joseph Fort Newton. 




FOREWORD 

TO THE FIRST EDITION 

Some books are so much be-trumpeted before their ap¬ 
pearance and make their advent accompanied by such 
a battery of acclamation that afterwards one is at a loss 
to know whether to attribute their success to their own 
merits or to the preparatory campaign of advertising. 
Others come ‘‘without bell/’ without ostentation or an¬ 
nouncement, like the stealing of light at dawn, and make 
their way very slowly and by their own intrinsic worth. 
The present volume is an excellent example of the latter 
class. Brother Street first collected his materials for a 
series of lectures in his own state of Alabama. Later on 
these lectures were published serially in The Builder, the 
journal of the National Masonic Research Society. Be¬ 
ginning in August, 1918, the demand for copies of the 
journal containing the serial was such that the Society 
issued the manuscript in book form, albeit of a most 
modest fashion. This little book in turn has been so much 
read and so widely sought that not a copy remains to be 
sold. And now the Society, with Brother Street’s con¬ 
sent and assistance, is republishing “Symbolism of the 
Three Degrees” in a volume of such dignity and per¬ 
manence as the proved worth of the essay entitles it to. 

It chances that I myself have written a book on Sym¬ 
bolical Masonry, if I may be here permitted to say as 
much, and therefore I can speak with something of the 
authority of experience when I say that this work is one 
of the half dozen best books on the subject in our lan- 
vii 


viii 


FOREWORD 


guage. Those who have labored in the field of Masonic 
symbolism know what toil is required; what mountains 
of books must be read; what masses of rubbish must 
be overhauled for an ounce of value; and how confusing 
is the babel of interpretation that breaks from books, 
Monitors, speeches, magazine articles, pamphlets and id 
genus omne. To find one’s way, to keep one’s head, to 
emerge at last with one’s sanity intact and with some¬ 
thing of value, is a task. To Brother Street belongs the 
honor of such an achievement. He has read wisely and 
well; thought much; and followed the lead of the official 
Monitors without abandoning his own rights or duties of 
independent judgment. 

The Craft needs a large literature of such books as this. 
Private students and members of study clubs should 
master it paragraph by paragraph. Masters and Wardens 
and all others entrusted with the exemplification of our 
marvellous Masonic Ritual will find in it such light on 
all the important symbols of the Three Degrees as will 
give them and their audience a new interest in the work, 
and a new appreciation of the inexhaustible wealth hidden 
away within the heart of Ancient Craft Masonry. 

H. L. Haywood, 

Editor oi The Builder. 

Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Oct. i, 1922. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

FOREWORD.V 

FOREWORD TO FIRST EDITION.vii 

PART one: 

THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE . . . I 3 

PART two: 

THE FELLOW CRAFT DEGREE .... 97 

PART three: 

THE MASTER MASON DEGREE . . . *131 

APPENDIX : 

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION . . . . 181 

INDEX.I 9 I 






PART ONE: THE ENTERED 
APPRENTICE DEGREE 


\ 


SYMBOLISM OF 
THE THREE DEGREES 


Part One 

THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 

It is first necessary that we should understand the scope 
of our subject. First, be it understood, we attempt to 
exhaust no topic upon which we touch, but only to stimu¬ 
late the interest and curiosity of the reader to pursue the 
subject further for himself. Under the term ‘‘sym¬ 
bolism,’’ we include also the legends and allegories of 
Masonry, though properly speaking they are not symbols. 
Yet they are all so closely interwoven and so employed 
for the same or like purposes they can scarcely be treated 
separately. 

General Albert Pike, that great Freemason and phi¬ 
losopher, says that “to translate the symbols [of Free¬ 
masonry] into the trivial and commonplace is the blunder¬ 
ing of mediocrity.” 

That there has been some blundering of this kind on 
the part of our Monitor makers must be apparent to any 
serious and intelligent student of Masonry. 

Difficult as it is to assign adequate meaning to some of 
our Masonic symbols, it is equally difficult, when once 
started, to know where to stop. Says a distinguished 
British Freemason, Brother W. H. Rylands: 

13 


14 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


“Symbolism is always a difficult affair as every 
one knows or at least ought to know. When once 
fairly launched on the subject, it often becomes an 
avalanche or torrent which may carry one away into 
the open sea or more than empty space. On few 
questions has more rubbish been written than that of 
symbols and symbolism: it is a happy hunting ground 
for those, who, guided by no sort of system or rule, 
ruled only by their own sweet will, love to allow 
their fancies and imaginations to run wild. Interpre¬ 
tations are given which have no other foundation 
than the disordered brain of the writer, and, when 
proof or anything approaching a definite statement 
is required, symbols are confused with metaphors and 
we are involved in a further maze of follies and 
wilder fancies.” 

Thus we are to steer our bark between the Scylla of 
Brother Pike and the Charybdis of Brother Rylands; 
without, therefore, descending to the commonplace on 
the one hand or soaring away from the plane of common 
sense on the other, we hope to be able to say something 
of interest concerning the symbolism of the First Degree. 

A symbol is a visible representation of some object or 
thing, real or imagined, employed to convey a certain idea. 
Sometimes there is an apparent connection between the 
symbol and the thought represented, but more often the 
association seems to be entirely arbitrary. The earliest 
forms of symbolism of which we know were the ancient 
hieroglyphical systems of writing. We may indeed say 
that symbolism is but a form of writing; in fact, the 
earliest and for hundreds, and perhaps even thousands of 
years, the only form of writing known to the human 
race. It prevailed among every ancient people of whom 
we have any definite knowledge. 

The learned Dr. William Stukeley, of England, the 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 15 


author of many antiquarian works, said truly that the 
“wisdom of all the ancients that is come down to our 
hands is symbolic/’ ^ 

Few of us appreciate the importance of symbolism and 
the great part it plays even now in our everyday life. 
We have said that all symbolism is a form of writing; 
with equal truth, we may invert the statement and say 
that all writing, ancient and modern, is symbolism. It 
has been proved that our present methods of writing are 
but developments from the hieroglyphical, and are as 
purely symbolical as any that have preceded them. Our 
thoughts themselves and the forms in which we express 
them are all symbolic. Even spoken language is sym¬ 
bolical; were it not so we should not have to be taught a 
language in order to understand it. A certain spoken 
sound, or printed word is representative of a certain idea, 
not naturally so, but by arbitrary usage; and this is pre¬ 
cisely what a symbol is. To the direct forms of speech 
we have added the so-called “figures of speech,” similes, 
metaphors, parables and allegories, rendering language 
both spoken and written still more symbolic. In short, 
without symbols communication, except of the most re¬ 
stricted sort, among men would be impossible. The im¬ 
portance of the subject is, therefore, not easily exag¬ 
gerated. Except when our attention is specifically directed 
to it, we are not conscious of the extent to which the 
symbolical enters into our daily thought and life. Sym¬ 
bolism, however, in that aspect in which it is commonly 
understood, no longer prevails, except to a very limited 
degree. 

This ancient form of writing, now generally fallen 
into disuse. Masonry has to some extent at least per¬ 
petuated and employs in recording her precepts and im¬ 
pressing them upon her votaries. 

^Mackey, Symbolism of Freemasonry, p. 73 . . 


16 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 

Another ancient and favourite method of teaching still 
employed by Masons is that of the allegory. The allegory 
is a figure of speech, that is to say, a departure from the 
direct and simple mode of speaking, and the employ¬ 
ment, for the sake of illustration or emphasis, of a fan¬ 
cied resemblance between one object or thing and an¬ 
other. 

If we say of a man, as we often uncharitably do, 
is an ass,’^ this is a metaphor. If we say of him, as 
Carlyle did of Wordsworth, ‘‘He looks like a horse,’’ 
this is a simile. An extended simile with the compara¬ 
tive form and words left out, in which the real subject 
is never directly mentioned but left to be inferred, is 
called an allegory. The most famous example of the 
allegory in literature is Bunyan’s Pilgrim's Progress. 

One desirous of entering into the real spirit of these 
ancient methods of imparting instruction should read 
Bacon’s Wisdom of the Ancients, and particularly the 
preface to that remarkable book. He shows that nearly 
all the complex and to us absurd tales of Grecian my¬ 
thology were but parts of a great system for inculcating 
natural, moral and religious truths by means of the 
allegory. What more grotesque and revolting, we may 
ask, than the myth of Pan? 

“He is portrayed by the ancients,” to quote Bacon, 
“in this guise: on his head a pair of horns that reach 
to heaven; his body rough and hairy, his beard long 
and shaggy; his shape biformed, above like a man, 
and below like a beast; his feet like goats’ hoofs; 
and he bore these ensigns of his jurisdiction, to wit, 
in his left hand a pipe of seven reeds, and in his right 
a sheep-hook, or a staff crooked at the upper end, and 
his mantle made of a leopard’s skin.” 

Yet under the master touch of Lord Bacon this in- 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 17 


congruous creature, half man and half goat, is shown to 
be a beautiful and apt symbol of all nature. 

Approaching that branch of symbolism which at present 
concerns us. Masonic Symbolism, it may be asserted in 
the broadest terms that the Mason who knows nothing 
of our symbolism knows little of Freemasonry. He may 
be able to repeat every line of the Ritual without an error, 
and yet, if he does not understand the meaning of the 
ceremonies, the signs, the words, the emblems and the 
figures, he is an ignoramus Masonically. It is distressing 
to witness how much time and labor is spent in memoris¬ 
ing ‘The work'’; and how little in ascertaining what it 
all means. 

Far be it from us to underrate the importance of letter- 
perfection in rendering our ritual. In no other way can 
the symbolism of our emblems, ceremonies, traditions, 
and allegories be accurately preserved, but we do main¬ 
tain that, if we are never to understand their meanings, 
it is useless to preserve them. The two go hand in hand; 
without either the beauty and symmetry of the Masonic 
temple is destroyed. 

It is in its symbols and allegories that Freemasonry 
surpasses all other societies. If any of them now teach 
by these methods it is because they have slavishly imitated 
Freemasonry. 

The great Mason and scholar. Brother Albert Pike, 
said: 


“The symbolism of Masonry is the soul of Ma¬ 
sonry. Every symbol of a lodge is a religious 
teacher, the mute teacher also of morals and phi¬ 
losophy. It is in its ancient symbols and in the 
knowledge of their true meanings that the pre¬ 
eminence of Freemasonry over all other orders con¬ 
sists. In other respects, some of them may com¬ 
pete with it, rival it, perhaps even excel it; but by 


18 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


its symbols it will reign without a peer when it learns 
again what its symbols mean, and that each is the 
embodiment of some great, old, rare truth.” 

In our Masonic studies the moment we forget that the 
whole and every part of Freemasonry is symbolic or 
allegoric, the same instant we begin to grope in the dark. 
Its ceremonies, signs, tokens, words and lectures at once 
become meaningless or trivial. The study of no other 
aspect of Freemasonry is more important, yet the study 
of no aspect of it has been so much neglected. Brother 
Robert F. Gould, of England, our foremost Masonic 
historian, declares it is the ‘‘one great and pressing duty 
of Freemasons.” ^ Brother Albert Pike, no doubt the 
greatest philosopher produced by our fraternity, declared 
as we have seen that symbolism is the soul of Masonry. 

We know that symbols are in Masonry, and we know 
not when or how they got there. We know not who 
assigned to them their meanings. We know that many 
of them were employed for the same purpose, the com¬ 
munication of ideas, before the beginning of authentic 
history; of some of them we know a part at least of their 
original meanings, but of the meaning of others we know 
nothing at all. 

In some instances it is possible to ascertain or at least 
to surmise the origin of the symbol and what gave rise 
to it. But in many of the most important this inquiry 
has baffled all research. 

If in Masonry we speak of a Temple, we do not mean 
one of stone and mortar; if we speak of a square, we 
do not mean one of steel or wood; if we speak of com¬ 
passes, we do not mean one of metal. 

We are told in our Monitors that “every emblem, 
character and figure depicted in the lodge has a moral and 

2 ^. Q. C., Vol. II, p. 43 . 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 19 


useful meaning and forcibly inculcates the practice of 
virtue/’ The same may with equal truth be said of our 
every ceremony, sign, token, legend, and allegory. If 
this is true, it must follow that to be ignorant of Masonic 
symbolism is to be ignorant of Masonry. 

Even our name—Mason or Freemason—is symbolical. 
Literally it means '‘builder in stone.” Of course, we are 
engaged in no such labours except in a symbolic sense. 
We liken the development of human character to the 
erection of a building; we liken the manly virtues which 
constitute a finished character to the polished stones which 
enter into a finished structure. 

The etymology of the word Mason, whether used to 
indicate a speculative or an operative Mason, is obscure. 

NAME OF THE FRATERNITY 

Undoubtedly the very name of Masonry is symbolic. 
The likening of the developing of human character to the 
building of a house is an old simile. It was certainly in 
use among the Jews as early as the time of David (2 
Samuel vii, 27; Ps. cxviii, 22) and was a favourite figure 
of speech with Jesus. It could, therefore, cause no sur¬ 
prise that a society whose professed mission is character¬ 
building should bear symbolically the name of the occu¬ 
pation of those engaged in the building of houses. It 
might be asked why are we not called Freecarpenters in¬ 
stead of Freemasons if we get our name from house 
builders. The answer is that we might have been so 
called had our Fraternity originated in America instead of 
Europe. Carpenters are a much more important factor 
in house building here than in the Old World. There 
nearly everything is and has for centuries been built of 
stone or brick. This is still more the case in Palestine 
where, according to our traditions, the society of Free- 


20 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 

masons had its origin. There, because of the scarcity of 
timber, the occupation of a mason was always of much 
greater consequence than that of the carpenter. Besides, 
it will be borne in mind that the more important edifices 
of all countries have, since the beginning of historic 
times, been built of stone or marble. 

In the ceremonies of making a Mason we do not 
attempt to do more than to indicate the pathway to Ma¬ 
sonic knowledge, to lay the foundation for the Masonic 
edifice; the brother must pursue the journey or complete 
the structure for himself by reading and reflection. 
Brother Pike thus expresses this idea: 

‘‘Science makes use of symbols; but for its trans¬ 
mission language is also indispensable; wherefore 
the Sages must sometimes speak. But when they 
speak they do so not to disclose or to explain but to 
lead others to seek for and find the truth of science 
and the meaning of the symbols.” 

There must be somewhere in Freemasonry a consistent 
plan running entirely through it by which all that is 
genuine in it may be rationally explained. It can not be 
that a miscellaneous collection of rules, customs, symbols 
and moral precepts, however valuable in and of them¬ 
selves, thrown together without order or design, could 
have attracted the attention among intelligent men that 
Freemasonry has done in all ages in which it is known. 
Surely unity must somewhere exist in the great variety 
which we find in the Masonic system. 

A little study will reveal to us that the great, vital, 
underlying idea, sought to be inculcated by the several 
degrees considered collectively and which runs entirely 
through the system, is to give an allegorical or symbolical 
representation of human existence, not only here but here- 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 21 


after, and to point the way which leads to the greatest 
good both in this life and in the life to come. Our cere¬ 
monies and symbols, while beautiful and impressive in 
and of themselves and incidentally teaching valuable les¬ 
sons of religion, morality and industry, all cluster around 
and contribute to this central idea. But it is only when 
we reflect upon them in relation to this sublime allegory of 
human life that we are enabled to comprehend them in 
the fulness of their beauty and grandeur. The Masonic 
student, therefore, who has never caught this conception 
of his subject has failed to grasp Freemasonry in its most 
instructive and important aspect. 

Endeavour, therefore, to get clearly in your minds the 
point we emphasise and which we shall attempt to 
demonstrate, namely, that every sign, every symbol and 
every ceremony in the First Degree, in addition to any 
primary signification it may have, is also designed to 
illustrate allegorically some moral phase of human 
existence. 

The great German poet, Goethe, says: 

'The Mason's ways are 
A type of existence. 

And his persistence 
Is as the days are 
Of men in this world." 

We have dwelt at length on this thought just because 
it is not otherwise possible adequately to explain any 
part of the Masonic system. 

DEFINITION OF MASONRY 

A more beautiful, a more accurate, or a more compre¬ 
hensive definition of Freemasonry never has and never 
will be given in so few words than that it is "A system 


22 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


of Morality veiled in Allegory and illustrated by 
Symbols.’’ ^ 

It is truly a System. It is not a mere hodge-podge of 
rules, maxims and precepts thrown together without order 
or design, as ignorant Masons so often suppose. 

It is a system of Morality. The word morality in its 
first and broadest sense, “the doctrine of the right and 
wrong in human conduct,” {Standard Dictionary) covers 
the whole field. 

It is veiled in Allegory. Rightly understood the 
whole system is an elaborate allegory of human life. An 
allegory is a departure from the direct mode of speaking 
in which the real subject is not mentioned by name but is 
more or less thinly veiled, though not hidden, beneath 
figures of speech. 

It is illustrated by Symbols. What might otherwise 
be unintelligible in the allegory is made plain by the 
symbols accompanying it. The meanings of most of 
these symbols, though sometimes forgotten and hence 
not obvious, may be ascertained by study and reflection. 

In our view two other facts may be regarded as setting 
a limit in a loose sort of way to the meaning of Masonic 
symbols. One is that Masonry is derived from an opera¬ 
tive society; the other that the symbols are obviously de¬ 
signed to teach moral and religious truths. We must 
conclude, therefore, that to our ancient brethren they 
meant and were designed to teach moral and religious 
truths of the need of which they were conscious. These 
are such only as would appeal to a man of practical com¬ 
mon sense. It is folly to talk of these symbols meaning 
the same to them that they have meant at times to societies 
of philosophers and mystics. These additional meanings 
may be just as true and legitimate, but they are not Ma¬ 
sonic meanings. The rule we have just laid down is 
3 Mackey, Symbolism of Freemasonry, p. lo. 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 23 


general enough to admit of opinions different enough as to 
any symbol. Reliance must at last be placed largely upon 
a liberal measure of common sense. One fact is un¬ 
doubted and that is that Speculative Freemasonry is a 
development from the operative Masons’ guilds of former 
times. But when this change began or when it became 
complete are points of controversy. When we come to 
consider the time and manner, when and how the separa¬ 
tion occurred there is very great uncertainty. Without 
attempting to state the evidence on which the conclusion 
is based, it is generally agreed that certainly as early as 
A.D. 1600, Speculative Masonry was in existence though 
still maintaining a sort of connection with the operative 
craft. Just what this connection then was is not precisely 
known. The complete divorcement of Speculative from 
operative Masonry, according to the most reliable authori¬ 
ties, seems to have taken place a few years prior to A.D. 
1717. Just here a whole troup of questions begin to press 
for answer. Whence did the Speculative Masons derive 
their esoteric, symbolical and philosophical teachings, if 
not from the operative guilds? If from them, whence 
and when and how did they in their turn obtain them? 
And our understanding of the meanings of the Masonic 
symbols must in a measure wait the answering of these 
questions. Our present knowledge is not sufficient to 
enable us to answer them. 

Brother Gould has said that one great and pressing 
duty of Freemasonry was, he thought, to try and recover 
the lost meanings of many Masonic symbols, and to do 
this effectually it would be desirable to ascertain whether 
the symbolism they possessed became theirs by inherit¬ 
ance, or was the accidental product of adoption (or 
assimilation). If this symbolism was inherited, then the 
analogous customs of remote antiquity should form the 
subject of their study and investigation; but if on the 


24 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 

contrary, it was introduced at a comparatively recent date 
into Freemasonry, then the way it was actually understood 
by those who introduced it ought to have the first claim 
upon their attention/ 


INITIATION 

Initiation is now, as it has been for countless ages, 
employed as a symbol of the birth and endless develop¬ 
ment of the human mind and soul. The Entered Ap¬ 
prentice Degree represents birth and the preparatory 
stage of life, or in other words, youth; the Fellow Craft 
represents the constructive stage, or manhood; the Master 
Mason represents the reflective stage, or old age, death, 
the resurrection, and the everlasting life. This explana¬ 
tion of the three degrees is briefly given in our lecture on 
the Three Steps delineated on the Master's Carpet. 

THE LODGE 

Is it true that the lodge symbolically represents the 
world? We might say to begin with that some have 
thought the word ‘'lodge” derived from the Sanskrit 
word “loga,” meaning the world. However this may be, 
our Monitors tell us that the form of a lodge is an “oblong 
square” from East to West and between North and South, 
from earth to heaven and from surface to centre. This 
of course, if it means anything, can mean nothing less 
than the entire known habitable earth and Masonic 
scholars universally so interpret it. This meaning was 
more manifest at the period when Freemasonry is sup¬ 
posed to have had its origin, for the then known world 
lying around the shores of the Mediterranean sea was 
literally of the form of an “oblong square.” One doubt- 

^A. Q. C., Vol. HI. p. 4.3. 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 25 


ing this may consult any map of the ancient world, 
especially that of Cosmas Indicopleustes of the sixth cen¬ 
tury or that of Strabo A.D. i8. 

Dudley, in his Naology (p. 7), says that the idea thaf 
the earth was a level surface and of a square form may 
be justly supposed to have prevailed generally in the 
early ages of the world. It is certain that down to a com¬ 
paratively recent date it was believed that beyond a cer¬ 
tain limit northward life was impossible because of the 
darkness and cold, and likewise that beyond a certain 
limit southward it was impossible because of the blinding 
glare and intense heat of the sun. It was even supposed 
that in the farthest South the earth was yet molten. The 
biblical idea was that the earth was square. Isaiah 
(xi, 12) speaks of gathering ‘‘the dispersed of Judah from 
the four corners of the earth’': and in the Apocalypse 
(xx, 9) is the vision of “four angels standing on the 
four corners of the earth.” 

So thoroughly grounded were these beliefs that in 
ancient times the “square,” now the recognised symbol 
of the lodge, was the recognised symbol of the earth, as 
the circle was of the sun. In this antiquated expression 
“oblong square,” we therefore have not only an apt de¬ 
scription of the ancient world and evidence that the lodge 
is symbolical thereof,® but also a remarkable evidence of 
the great age of Freemasonry. It tends strongly to date 
our institution back to the time when the human mind 
conceived the earth to be a plane surface and was ignorant 
of its spherical character. 

Likewise the lodge, which is sometimes defined as 
“the place where Masons work,” symbolises the world or 
the place where all men work. 

Again, its covering is said to be a clouded canopy or 

^Universal Cyclopedia, “Rome,” Vol. X; The Times Atlas, Plate 
II; Mackey, Symbolism of Freemasonry, p. lOi. 


26 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


starry decked heaven, a description that could have not 
the slightest application to anything else but the world. 

If the lodge symbolises the world and the Mason 
symbolises man, it follows that initiation must symbolise 
the introduction of the individual into the world, or the 
birth of the child. It was so regarded in the ancient sys¬ 
tems of initiation and is now so understood by Masonic 
scholars everywhere. It is the least important view to 
consider it merely as the method of admitting one to 
membership in a Society. 

PREPARATION 

The preparation of the candidate and the plight in 
which he is admitted an Entered Apprentice strikingly 
typifies the helpless, destitute, blind and ignorant condi¬ 
tion of the newly born babe. But initiation means more 
than this; by all the authorities it is agreed to by a sym¬ 
bolical representation of the process by which not only 
the child had been brought into existence and educated into 
a scholarly and refined man but that by which the race 
has been brought out of savagery and barbarism into 
civilisation. 

The state in which a candidate enters an Entered Ap¬ 
prentice lodge fittingly typifies the barbaric, not to say 
savage, state in which man originally moved when he 
knew not the use of metals and out of which he has been 
brought to his present condition. It is precisely this that 
has led to the application of the term “barbarian” to the 
uninitiated. On this point, we quote Brother Albert Pike 
again; he says: 

“In that preparation of the candidate which sym¬ 
bolises the condition of the Aryan race especially in 
its infancy, he represents the condition of the race 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 27 


when there were no manufacturers and the fabrics 
of the loom were unknown, when men dressed in 
the skins of animals, and, when the heat made these a 
burden, were hardly clothed at all. He represents 
their blindness of ignorance, even of the most useful 
arts, and altogether of divine truths; and that in 
which the number 3 appears, the bonds in which 
they were held of their sensual appetites, their 
passions that were their masters, anger, revenge, 
hatred, and all the evil kindred of these; and their 
superstitious fears.” 

The preparation of the candidate is symbolical of that 
equality of all men which is one of the fundamental doc¬ 
trines of our society. He is stripped of everything that 
indicates any difference in fashion, station or wealth. All 
evidences of artificial distinctions are obliterated. The 
onlooker could not tell whether he is a prince or a pauper, 
a millionaire or a beggar. On the other hand, he is not 
deprived of any of those qualities of heart, mind, or char¬ 
acter which mark the real superiority of one man over 
another. From the very beginning of initiation he is 
urged to make the utmost use of these in an effort to excel 
in all that is noble and worthy. 

A little study and reflection will show that every Ma¬ 
sonic symbol has an apt application not only to the moral 
and intellectual life history of the individual but also to 
that of the race considered collectively. Biologists tell 
us that this parallel between the individual and the race 
holds good in the material realm and that in the physical 
growth and development of every child from the moment 
of its conception till it is a fully grown man, there is 
epitomised the history of the evolutionary development 
of the race through all the ages that have passed. How¬ 
ever this may be, it is certain that an exact parallel does 
exist between the moral and intellectual growth of the 


2S SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


child and the process which history indicates the race as a 
yrhole has passed through. 

SECRECY 

One of the very first lessons taught the candidate and 
impressed upon him symbolically and in an unforgettable 
manner is the duty of secrecy. 

The secret signs, tokens, and words, which usually excite 
the greatest curiosity among the uninitiated, are in fact the 
least important parts of Freemasonry. All understand 
this who have ever passed through the solemn ceremony 
of being raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason. 
Still they are not without their value. They are a pro¬ 
tection against impostors; they are a passport to the 
attention and assistance of the initiated everywhere. 
They have stayed the uplifted hand of the destroyer; they 
have arrested the despoiler of female virtue; they have 
softened the asperities of the tyrant; they have subdued 
the rancor of the malevolent and broken down the barriers 
of political animosity and religious intolerance. May our 
secrets be forever preserved inviolate! 

But the chief value of this lesson lies in the fact that 
few persons are able to keep a secret. It is a priceless but 
rare virtue, and yet one where little effort is made to teach 
or practise it. If Masonry could do no more than train 
its membership to preserve sacredly (except where a 
higher duty commands disclosure) the secrets of others 
confided to them, it would have done a great work and 
one which alone would entitle it to a continued existence. 
The ancients so prized this virtue that they allotted a god 
to it. It is said of Aristotle that, when asked what thing 
appeared to him most difficult of performance, he replied, 
“To be secret and silent.’’ I fear we moderns would more 
nearly deify the gossip. 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 29 

The ancient symbol of secrecy is a finger laid across 
the lips. 

The manner of the candidate’s reception is symbolical 
of the pricks of a violated conscience for any departure 
from those injunctions of secrecy and virtue laid upon 
them in the course of initiation. Rites similar to our own 
at this point were in vogue among the ancients. 

TOOL SYMBOLS 

One of the things first noticed in the Entered Ap¬ 
prentice Degree and continued throughout all the degrees 
is the employment of the tools of the operative Mason 
as emblems of moral qualities. This peculiarity of Free¬ 
masonry is well known even to outsiders. 

Brother George Fleming Moore, former' editor of 
‘The New Age” and Past Sovereign Grand Commander, 
Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdic¬ 
tion, declares that it is clear that the ancient Chinese 
philosophers used our present Masonic symbols “in almost 
precisely the same sense in which they are used by us in 
modern Freemasonry.” ® 

The tools with which men labour are not inappropriate 
for use as moral symbols: they are neither humble nor 
trivial. They are worthy emblems of the highest and 
noblest virtues. Tools have performed an astonishing 
part in civilising and enlightening mankind. They are 
one of the few things that distinctly mark man as im¬ 
measurably superior to the other animals. Some scientists 
have even contended that it is alone man’s ability to 
fashion and use tools that has raised him above the level 
of the brute creation. But radical as this view must be, 
it cannot be denied by any thoughtful man that the use 
of tools has been one of the chief instrumentalities in all 
® “The New Age,” Vol. XVII, p. 283 . 


30 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


human progress, not only material but mental and spir¬ 
itual. Without tools we could not till the soil, or work 
the mines, or reduce the metal; we could enjoy only the 
rudest shelters; and all the creations of art which appeal 
to our spiritual natures would be impossible. The very 
stages of human advancement are named from the char¬ 
acter of the tools that were employed during them; thus, 
the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, etc. 

Some students suppose the first great achievement of 
man in his progress from savagery to civilisation to have 
been the development of articulate speech; the second, the 
discovery of the uses of fire; the third, they believe to 
have been the invention of a tool, namely, the bow and 
arrow. But doubtless this was preceded by the discovery 
of the use of the club even if the club did not precede the 
development of speech, as has been the case with the 
great anthropoid apes. Pottery, another class of utensils, 
they hold to have been the fourth; the domestication of 
animals, the fifth; and the discovery of the manufacture 
and use of iron, the sixth. The seventh was the art of 
writing which also involved the use of a tool. Thus we 
see that four, perhaps five, epoch-making strides of savage 
and barbaric man had to do with the use of tools. 

With civilised man, the case has been even more strik¬ 
ing. Among his early discoveries or inventions were gun¬ 
powder, the mariner's compass, the manufacture of paper, 
and printing with movable type. Another was the 
demonstration by Copernicus (1530) that the earth re¬ 
volves on an axis and that the sun does not daily make a 
circuit around her. The steam engine, machines for weav¬ 
ing and spinning, apparatus for generating and utilising 
the boundless possibilities of electricity, the gasolene 
engine and the flying machine are all achievements made 
possible by the invention and use of new tools. And it 
must be remembered that the discovery of Copernicus, 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 31 


was rendered possible only through the use of another 
tool. To the Psalmist the heavens declared the glory of 
God’s handiwork, but a thousand times more solemnly 
and impressively do they now disclose it through the 
medium of the telescope. It was nothing less than an 
inspiration that prompted our ancient brethren to sym¬ 
bolise the tools with which they produced those creations 
of art and architecture whose sight causes our breasts to 
heave with the highest emotions of which we are capa¬ 
ble. 

Professor Henry Smith Williams,^ after pointing out 
the many material advantages involved in the use of tools, 
says that we must not ''overlook the esthetic influence of 
edged implements.” 

And then what must be said of the tools that make 
our music? If there is a glimpse of heaven obtainable 
on earth, it is in the wonderful art made possible 
through our marvellous musical instruments. 

How our various working tools acquired the particular 
symbolical meanings we now attach to them we do not 
always know. In some instances we know that they have 
borne them for ages. 

At any rate, it is with peculiar fitness that the material 
tools, which contribute so essentially to the building and 
the beautifying of the material structure, should be made 
to symbolise those virtues which are so essential to the 
building and beautifying of human character, that moral 
and spiritual building not reared with hands. 

It is by the use of tools that the architect designs, erects, 
and adorns the building. So also is it that by the practice 
of the moral, intellectual and religious virtues human char¬ 
acter is perfected. In a system, therefore, where a per¬ 
fect building is made to symbolise the perfect character, 
it is not surprising but is altogether appropriate that the 
"^Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. VI, p. 404. 


32 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


tools which produce the one should symbolise the virtues 
which make the other. 

THE TWENTY-FOUR INCH GAUGE 

is a symbol of time but not in the sense, as we learn in 
the Third Degree, that the scythe symbolises time. The 
scythe denotes the fleetness of time and the brevity of all 
things human, while the Twenty-four Inch Gauge typifies 
time well spent. It teaches us the value of our time, that 
time wasted can never be regained, that it is a priceless 
commodity, that there is a time for all things, a time for 
labour, a time for rest, a time for amusement, a time for 
worship, and a time for the relief of distress. It is the 
same lesson so beautifully taught in Ecclesiastes iii, i-8, 
or as redacted by Jastrow in A Gentle Cynic, p. 209: 

‘‘Everything has its appointed time and there is a time 
for every occurrence under the sun. 

There is a time to be born, 

And a time to die. 

There is a time for planting. 

And a time for uprooting.’’ 

In other words, let everything be done in time and in 
order, so that none of this most valuable gift of God to 
man shall be wasted. How few of us place an adequate 
estimate upon the value of our time! Note those who sit 
around and whittle and chew tobacco. 

The gauge being divided into twenty-four inches it 
naturally, in a system like ours, became the symbol of the 
twenty-four hours of the day. 

THE COMMON GAVEL, 

or stonemason’s hammer, was the tool with which the 
apprentice performed those first operations involved in 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 33 


fitting a stone for its proper place in the building, such 
as “breaking off the corners of rough stones”; or, as 
expressed in England (Emulation Working), “to knock 
off all superfluous knobs and excrescences.” It was not 
adapted to giving polish or ornamentation to the stone 
and hence it should symbolise only that training of the 
youth which is designed to give mechanical skill and to 
divest him of those social habits which characterise man 
in a state of nature. In Canada, it is said to teach that 
“labour is the lot of man” and that qualities of heart 
and head are of limited value “if the hand be not prompt 
to execute the design” of the master. However, since the 
chisel has fallen into disuse in the United States and many 
other countries as a Blue lodge symbol, the symbolism of 
the Common Gavel has been extended so that it now 
typifies the enlightening and ennobling effects of training 
and education in all its various branches. 

THE CHISEL 

has a symbolism somewhat akin to that of the Common 
Gavel, or stonemason’s hammer.® The Gavel was used 
only in the earlier processes of dressing the stone and is 
not adapted as we have just said to giving it a high polish 
or ornamentation. It, therefore, symbolises the earlier 
steps in the education and moral training of the youth. 
When it is desired to give a higher finish to the stone or to 
give it an ornamental shape or to engrave designs upon 
it, the Chisel was and still is brought into play. The 
Chisel, therefore, symbolises those advanced studies and 
trainings which give a man polish and refinement and fit 
him for the highest stations in life. In the United States, 
the Chisel is practically obsolete in Blue Masonry but it 
reappears in the beautiful Mark Master’s Degree where it 
® Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. 30. 


34 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 

is said to ‘'demonstrate the advantages of discipline and 
education/^ In England (Emulation Working), it is said 
to “point out to us the advantages of education by which 
means alone we are rendered fit members of regularly 
organised society.” In Canada, it is said to teach that 
“nothing short of indefatigable exertion can induce the 
habit of virtue, enlighten the mind, and render the soul 
pure.” We regard it as a distinct loss to Blue lodge sym¬ 
bolism in the United States that the Chisel has been sur¬ 
rendered to Capitular Masonry. Its proper place is in the 
Fellow Craft Degree, from which many believe the Mark 
Master Degree to have been originally taken. 

THE KEY 

has a beautiful symbolism familiar to English Masons 
but unknown to us. It symbolises the tongue and teaches 
us that it should always be ready to speak in a brother’s 
defence and “never lie to his prejudice.” Emulation 
Working (English) gives this charge: 

“That excellent key, a Freemason’s tongue, which 
should speak well of a brother absent or present,— 
and when unfortunately that can not be done with 
honour and propriety, should adopt that excellent 
virtue of the Craft which is Silence.” ® 

Solomon’s temple 

A symbol which appears early in this Degree and recurs 
in many subsequent degrees and rites is that of Solomon’s 
Temple. If building symbolises the developing of the 
human mind and character, nothing is more logical than 

® Emulation Working, Lectures of the Three Degrees, etc. (Lewis, 
1896), pp. 8, 9- 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 35 


that the most perfect building known should be chosen as 
the symbol of a perfect character. But in this connection 
it is often asked why was not the Parthenon, or the Pan¬ 
theon, or the temple of Zeus at Athens chosen for this 
symbol. Two answers are possible: 

First; a tradition has prevailed since long before the 
birth of Christ that the Temple of Solomon was the most 
artistic and the most highly wrought structure ever 
erected by man. 

Second; if Masonry had its origin at the time and under 
the circumstances claimed by our traditions, namely, at 
the building of the Temple, it would be inevitable that 
Solomon’s Temple should be chosen as this symbol. 

Of course historians laugh at this claim, but historians 
have laughed at many things which have turned out to be 
true. Without assuming to assert that it is true, we desire 
to point out what is at least a plausible hypothesis under¬ 
lying this tradition. Many Masonic writers have main¬ 
tained apparently with reason that earlier than a thousand 
years before Christ, the priests of Dionysus, or Bacchus, 
devoting themselves to architecture in the erection of their 
temples, had founded the “Fraternity of Dionyian Archi¬ 
tects” ; that these in course of time spread throughout Asia 
Minor and Phoenicia and gradually acquired the exclusive 
privilege of erecting the temples and the public buildings. 
It is supposed by them that Hiram, King of Tyre, whom 
we know to have been the erector of great buildings, 
Hiram Abif and the Tyrians, who were sent to assist King 
Solomon in the building of his Temple, were members of 
this fraternity. Granted the existence of such buildings as 
King Hiram erected, they can scarcely be accounted for 
except by supposing the existence of a society of builders 
who erected them. If such a society existed in Phoenicia 
at that date it would be remarkable if Hiram Abif and 
the other Tyrian artificers were not members of it, and 


36 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


it would naturally follow that at least the skilled work¬ 
men on Solomon's Temple would be similarly organised. 

A corroborating circumstance of our Temple tradition 
is that precisely at the time of Solomon, Judah was the 
most powerful and Phoenicia the most enlightened artis¬ 
tically and commercially of all the nations of the world. 
This was many centuries before the ascendancy of Greece 
and a thousand years before Rome extended her posses¬ 
sions beyond Italy. Solomon's Temple antedates the 
earliest known remains of historic Greek architecture by 
nearly 300 years. Archaeology thus corroborates the 
claim of both Biblical and Masonic tradition that down 
to its time no building had been erected equal to it in 
splendour and beautiful finish.^® Its construction natu¬ 
rally called in requisition the Tyrians, they being neigh¬ 
bours and the most finished artisans of the time. The se¬ 
cret society “habit" was quite as common among men then 
as it is now. Their long association together and their 
pride in such a great work would just as naturally lead 
them to form themselves into a society, as like motives led 
the soldiers of our Revolutionary and Civil Wars to form 
patriotic societies. We have seen that there were already 
in existence and at hand secret societies which needed only 
a slight modification to make them much like what our 
traditions say Masonry then was. 

The probabilities all favour the conclusion that the 
Temple was built by a society of masons. Nor is there 
anything incredible in the theory that Solomon who was 
prosecuting this work, and Hiram, King of Tyre, whose 
subjects many of the builders were, condescended to 
honour the society with their patronage and favour, thus 
linking their names with the tradition. 

In seven years, this bond would become quite strong; 

10 Universal Cyclopedia, p. 428; i Ibid., p. 290; 9 Ibid., p. 8; Trans¬ 
lations, Lodge of Research, No. 2429, Leicester, 1907-08, p. 139. 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 37 


upon their dispersion every little group would continue to 
feel this tie of sympathy and to take pride in their great 
achievement, with the result that organisations having 
the same or similar traditions would spring up in various 
parts. The idea would soon become prevalent among all 
bodies of masons that their ancient brethren erected the 
Temple. 

At any rate, it is clear that in the ancient Mysteries, 
Solomon found ready-formed institutions which with 
slight changes were admirably adapted to the creation 
and cultivation of a bond of union and sympathy among 
the workmen on the Temple, which would tend to make 
them more efficient, skilful and zealous and which would 
greatly expedite the work. There is nothing, therefore, 
inherently improbable in the assumption that Solomon with 
his wisdom and knowledge of human nature would turn 
the existing religious associations of his time to his use in 
accomplishing his great and holy undertaking. 

This assumption does not imply that all the skilled arti¬ 
sans then in the world were employed in the building of 
the Temple or that Freemasonry descended from those 
alone who were thus employed. The number, however, 
must have been sufficiently great that the tradition soon 
gained currency among all the building classes through¬ 
out the then-known world that the erection of the Temple 
was due to their predecessors in the craft. Thus may 
we rationally account for this tradition among us with¬ 
out insisting upon its historical accuracy. 

MODESTY OF TRUE CHARACTER 

We are told that in the building of Solomon^s Temple 
there was not heard the sound of any tool of iron. It is 
a well authenticated historical fact that the Jews, not to 
mention other ancient peoples, believed that an iron tool 


38 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 

was polluting to an altar to Deity. Hence, in the days of 
Moses, the laws prescribed that in erecting an altar of 
stone to Jehovah no iron tool should be employed upon 
it. The work of erecting the Temple, therefore, went on 
noiselessly but with speed and perfection. 

This tradition, besides being borne out by the known 
facts of Hebrew history, has a beautiful symbolism. It 
is this: the erection and adornment of the moral and 
spiritual temple in which we are engaged, that of human 
character, and of which Solomon’s was typical, is not 
characterised by the clang of noisy tools. About true 
character building there is nothing of bluster and show; 
it is a silent, noiseless process. It is the empty vessel that 
makes the greatest sound. 

HALE 

A certain sign is called the hale or hele frequently mis¬ 
spelled hail. The term is commonly understood even by 
Masons to mean accost or salute, but such is not its mean¬ 
ing at all. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon helan and 
means to cover or conceal.^^ The English word heal, for 
example the healing of a wound or the healing of a Mason, 
is derived from the same word and primarily signifies 
to cover. The hale, therefore, has the same Masonic sig¬ 
nification as due guard and is intended to impress upon 
us the value of caution, a virtue so few men possess. 

TILE, TILER, TYLER 

These words so common in and so peculiar to Free¬ 
masonry have a use and meaning similar to hale. They 
derive from the word tile, used in covering houses. To 
tile a house is to cover it; one who puts the tiles on a 
Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. 63. 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 39 


house, who tiles it, is called a tiler. Therefore, to cover 
a lodge, to protect it against intrusion, is to tile it; the 
officer who does this is called the tiler. The correct spell¬ 
ing is undoubtedly tiler and not tyler. In a symbolical 
system like ours the tiler (coverer) of a building would 
naturally become symbolically the tiler (coverer, pro¬ 
tector) of the lodge. 


DUE GUARD 

is another etymological puzzle. From what it is derived 
or its literal signification no one knows. It is of exclu¬ 
sively Masonic use. The statement is often met with that 
it is an Americanism and that it is unknown in England. 
But Brother W. J. Songhurst, the capable Secretary of 
Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076, London, takes issue 
with this statement and says the expression is known in 
the British Isles and that it is a corruption of the French 
Dieu me garde (God protect me). With us it is intended 
to teach care, caution and circumspection, and especially 
a careful regard for the injunctions of secrecy contained 
in the several obligations. 

CABLE TOW 

The candidate is early introduced to the cable tow. 
We have seen that his introduction into the Entered Ap¬ 
prentice lodge is symbolical of birth. Among the Hindus, 
the Brahmans wear a sacred cord symbolising the second 
birth which they profess. The cable tow thus has in 
Masonry what we might term its primary allusion. It 
has, however, a deeper symbolism. The word is not found 
in most of our dictionaries; it is characteristically Ma¬ 
sonic. Its obvious literal meaning is the cable or cord by 
which something is towed or drawn. Hence with the 


40 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 

greatest aptness it represents those forces and influences 
which have conducted not only the individual, but the 
human race out of a condition of ignorance and darkness 
into one of light and knowledge. With symbolical mean¬ 
ings of this kind the cord seems to have been employed 
in many, if not all, of the ancient systems of initiation. 
The explanation of the cable tow given in our lecture 
is its least important meaning. 

About this term and the connection in which it is used 
in our ritual there is a flavour of the sea. Whence could 
we have inherited it? Probably not from the Jews, who 
were not a seafaring people. Tradition, however, con¬ 
nects with our Fraternity the Phoenicians who were the 
greatest sailors of the ancient world. May it not be that 
in this term we have preserved another evidence that our 
traditions are not altogether unfounded? 

Dr. George Oliver in his Theocratic Philosophy of 
Masonry tells us that in the ancient mysteries the neophyte 
was bound with a chain and that the chain was symbolical 
of the penance imposed on every candidate for initiation 
by his confinement in the pastos. He says that the phrase, 
“he submitted to the chain,implied that “he had endured 
the rigours of preparation and initiation with patience 
and fortitude.’’ 


DISCALCEATION 

It is very true that the plucking off of one’s shoes is 
an ancient Israelitish custom adopted among Masons. It 
was employed among the Jews as a pledge of fidelity of 
one man to another. Such is the symbolism of it in the 
Entered Apprentice Degree. It has another meaning 
with which we are not concerned here, but which is 
brought out in the Master Mason Degree. 

12 Oliver, Theocratic Philosophy of Masonry, Lecture YL 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 41 


CIRCUMAMBULATION 

A certain ceremony, the candidate is told, was iritended 
to signify to him that ‘'at a time when he could neither 
foresee nor prevent danger he was in the hands of a 
true, and trusty friend in whose fidelity he could with 
safety confide/’ This has a literal meaning very applicable 
to the candidate’s then condition, but if we regard the 
candidate as we should, as man pursuing the journey of 
life, the symbolical signification of this ceremony becomes 
truly profound. We all grope in the dark from the 
moment we are born till we are laid upon the bier. In 
our moments of apparently greatest security we often to 
our astonishment afterwards find that we were in the 
very presence of death. The sinking of the Titanic or 
the Lusitania was but one of thousands of proofs of this 
truth. The winds, the lightnings, the floods and the fires 
destroy us without warning. With all our boasted wis¬ 
dom and foresight we can not see an inch into the future. 
But every man is in the hands of a true and trusty friend 
in whose fidelity he can with safety confide. He needs 
but do his part to the best he knows and may then rest 
confident that our All-Father will take care of the results 
in a manner befitting an all-wise and all-loving Creator. 
This is what the Mason means by Faith. 

UPRIGHT 

In Eastern countries (and formerly in Western coun¬ 
tries) the inferior approaches the superior, the servant 
the master, the subject the sovereign, in an abased or 
grovelling manner, oftentimes with the face averted as 
though it were insolence to look directly upon the august 
presence. Not so in Masonry; the candidate is taught to 
approach the East, with his face to the front, walking 


42 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


erect as a man should walk. This attitude is one of the 
characteristics that distinguish man from the other ani¬ 
mals. A few animals can feebly imitate it, but only on 
occasion and then haltingly. Nothing adds more to a 
man’s self-respect and strength of character than to walk 
erect, holding the head well up and looking the world 
and every man squarely in the face. You may experience 
a feeling of sorrow or sympathy for the man who appears 
before you with a cringing or abject bearing, but with this 
feeling there is mingled contempt. This idea we have 
turned into a terse though vulgar apothegm, “Hold your 
head up if you die hard.” We promptly suspect the 
integrity of the man who can not look us squarely in 
the eye. 

Freemasonry teaches that all men are and of right 
ought to be free; that, therefore, no man should abase or 
humiliate himself before another. But this manly, erect 
attitude which the candidate is taught to assume has the 
same symbolism as the plumb. It teaches that we should 
always walk upright in our several stations before God 
and man. 


APPROACHING THE EAST 

The East has long been deemed the region of knowledge 
and enlightenment. Undoubtedly this idea sprang from 
the fact that it is in the East that the orb of light makes 
his appearance after the darkness of the night. In the 
East darkness, therefore, appears to take flight before the 
presence of light. Hence to “approach the East” in our 
symbolic language means to seek enlightenment and 
knowledge. Masons are said to travel from West to East 
and in Preston’s lectures and other more recent Monitors 
the question is asked, “What induced you to leave the 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 43 


West and travel to the East?’’ The answer is “In search 
of a master and from him to gain instruction.” 

The West is the region where light at the close of the 
day seems to be engulfed in darkness. Hence, sym¬ 
bolically it was regarded as a region of ignorance. In 
the Egyptian religions, it was deemed the region of the 
dead, so that one who had died was said to have “gone 
West.” This same expression became common among the 
soldiers during the World War. 

This idea that the East is the region of knowledge and 
the West that of ignorance finds historical basis in the 
indisputable fact that civilisation first arose in the East 
and for many ages all seekers after knowledge were 
actually compelled to travel toward the East. 

THE DIGNITY OF MAN 

‘What Is Man, That Thou Art Mindful of 
Psalms viii, 4 

What does Freemasonry teach on this subject? What 
does it not teach ? It does not teach, in the canting phrase 
of some religionists, that man is a worm. It does not 
teach that he is nothing or insignificant. 

It is by being a Man (not a mere male of the genus 
homo), that the candidate makes his request for initiation. 

There is a school of philosophy which teaches that man 
is a small, insignificant factor in nature, and that human 
life is mean and contemptible. In our view it is not so. 
If we omit consideration of his anatomy and physiology 
as no more wonderful than the anatomy and physiology 
of the other animals, what shall we say of his mind? 
What shall we say of that other man, the so-called sub¬ 
conscious self, with which the latest and leading psychol- 


U SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


ogists now invest him? And lastly, what shall we say 
of the soul which we so fondly believe he possesses? No 
one has yet fathomed the depths of these or any other 
one of the attributes of man. Away with the philosophy 
which teaches that man is of little moment in the universe; 
notwithstanding his diminutive size he is the biggest thing 
in the world. There is nothing ludicrous or incongruous 
that a spark of Deity himself should come to dwell for 
a season in this wonderful creature. The more careful 
should we be that we do not dishonour it. 


THE BIBLE 

The Bible is one of the Great Lights, is one of the 
items of Furniture, and rests upon the top of the Two 
Parallel Lines. No lodge with us should be opened with¬ 
out its presence. Still it is but a symbol; it represents 
divine truth in every form, whether in the form of the 
written word, or in that referred to by the Psalmist when 
he sings: 

‘‘The Heavens declare the glory of God; 

And the firmament showeth his handiwork. 

Day unto day uttereth speech, 

And night unto night showeth knowledge.” 

Psalms xix, i. 

But the shadow must not be mistaken for the sub¬ 
stance. There is nothing sacred or holy in the mere book. 
It is only ordinary paper, leather, and ink. Its workman¬ 
ship may be much inferior to that of other books. It is 
what it typifies that renders it sacred to us. Any other 
book having the same signification would do just as well. 
For this reason the Hebrew Mason may with perfect pro¬ 
priety use the Old Testament alone, or the Mohammedan 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 45 


may, as has been done, employ the Koran in his lodge. 
In fact that book should be used which to the individual 
in question most fully represents divine truth.^^ 

We are quite well aware that many Masons and a few 
Grand Lodges maintain that Masonry requires of its 
initiates a belief in the teachings of the Bible. If these 
brethren are correct, then a belief in some part only is 
not exacted but a belief in every part, both of history and 
doctrine. Once concede that any exception can be made 
and their whole contention falls to the ground because it 
then becomes the right and duty of every Mason to decide 
for himself what is required and what is not. So let us 
assume that belief in every part is required. It is neces¬ 
sary, therefore, in any case only to ascertain what the 
Bible teaches to know what Masonry requires. 

We quickly find that, in the opinion of some, the Bible 
teaches that Man fell from a state of perfection in which 
he was originally created into one of corruption for 
physically eating a forbidden fruit, but at the same time 
we find that others equally honest believe that this story 
is an allegory and each side supports its contention with 
eloquence, learning and zeal, not to say warmth. Which 
view does Masonry demand that we believe that the Bible 
teaches ? 

Some believe the Bible teaches that because of Man’s 
sinfulness the whole world was covered by a flood; others 
again believe that this too is an allegory. Which does 
Masonry require us to believe? Is one who is sceptical 
as to the reality of such a flood ineligible to Masonry? 

The Bible teaches most explicitly (as at least many 
think) that Jesus of Nazareth was the son of God, that 
His conception was immaculate, that He was born of a 
virgin, that He was crucified, was dead and buried, that 
He lay in the tomb three days, that He descended into hell, 

13 Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. ii. 


46 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 

that He arose from the dead, that He ascended into 
heaven, that He now sits at the right hand of God, that 
at the last day He will come to judge the quick and the 
dead, that through Him and Him only can Man be saved 
to a future life of happiness. The Jew, the Hindu, the 
Parsee, the Mohammedan, the Chinaman, the Japanese do 
not believe any part of this. Are each and all of these 
barred from Masonry ? 

The Primitive Baptist believes that the Bible teaches 
‘Toot-washing” is a duty; other churches think not. 
What does Masonry say ? The Baptist and others believe 
that the Bible teaches a single mode of baptism, immer¬ 
sion; others think it teaches not only this but sprinkling 
and pouring. With which does Masonry agree or rather 
require its members to agree ? 

Some believe that the Bible teaches that the resurrec¬ 
tion is a resurrection of the flesh; others that it teaches 
that the resurrection body is a spiritual body. Which 
does Masonry think it teaches? Or rather which does 
it require its devotees to believe that it teaches? 

Roman Catholics believe that the Bible teaches that the 
Pope of Rome is the vicegerent of Christ upon earth, that 
he can grant indulgences and forgive sins; others ridicule 
these ideas. What says Masonry ? 

Maybe the brethren and Grand Lodges to whom we 
refer will counter by saying Masonry does not descend to 
particulars but only requires its initiates to believe those 
fundamental teachings of the Bible concerning which all 
good men agree. Some have actually tried to dodge in 
this way. When they do they abandon their original 
position which was that a belief in all the teachings of the 
Book is required. We dare assert that neither the Con¬ 
stitution, Regulations, nor Ritual of any Grand Lodge in 
the world requires a belief in the teachings of the Bible 
unless it be the Masonry of Scandinavian Europe. When 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 47 


we say that the Bible is “the rule and guide to our faith” 
we mean that what it typifies, Truth, should be the rule 
and guide to all our beliefs, thoughts, words and actions. 

Some Masons and Grand Lodges (notably Tennessee) 
insist that one to be entitled to recognition as a Mason 
must specifically acknowledge God's “inspired word,” or, 
as one distinguished Mason expresses it, a Mason may 
“believe as he pleases so long as he believes in one true 
and living God and accepts the Holy Bible as His divine 
teachings and His revealed will/' These brethren thus 
broadly commit themselves to the Christian doctrine of 
inspiration of the Bible. Would they compel Jewish Ma¬ 
sons to believe this of the New Testament? Jews do not 
even believe that all of the Old Testament is inspired. 
But a further question is. What theory of inspiration 
would they compel belief in, (i) that of mechanical dic¬ 
tation or verbal inspiration, or (2) that of dynamic influ¬ 
ence or degrees of inspiration, or (3) that of essential 
inspiration, or (4) that of vital inspiration? For the¬ 
ologians have contended for each of these. Do these 
zealous brethren recognise Thomas Aquinas' distinction 
between direct and indirect inspiration ? Are the Hebrew 
Masons to be allowed to accept the “descending scale of 
inspiration” taught by the Jewish rabbis, namely, super¬ 
intendence, elevation, direction, suggestion? Any one 
who will make a little study of this doctrine of inspira¬ 
tion will soon realise on what treacherous sands of the¬ 
ological dogma Masonry will find itself should it ever 
attempt to enforce belief that the Bible is the inspired 
word of God. 

There is but one escape from this jungle of dogmatism 
and that is frankly to acknowledge.the Bible to be a symbol 
only. Those Christian Masons who would enforce belief 
in the teachings of the Bible have simply mistaken the 
symbol for the thing itself. The Bible is Masonry's 


48 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 

adopted symbol of Divine Truth in every form, just as 
the Compasses are its adopted symbol of self-restraint; 
the Square, of morality; and the Scythe, of time. The 
Bible symbolises that divine truth or knowledge from 
whatever source derived, which should always be the rule 
and guide both to our faith and conduct. Thus viewed 
there is no reason why any man, whatever be his faith, 
should object to the Bible on the altar or to being obligated 
on the Bible. On the other hand, there is no reason why 
a candidate may not be obligated on that book which is 
to him the most sacred, the Bible being displayed the 
while precisely as are the Square and Compasses. 

APRON 

We are told that the lambskin or white leather apron, 
the badge of a Mason, is ‘^more ancient than the Golden 
Fleece or Roman Eagle, more honourable than the Star 
and Garter.” This sounds a little bombastic, we must 
admit, yet it is literally true. The Order of the Golden 
Fleece, which is here referred to, had its origin in A.D. 
1429; the Roman Eagle, which was Rome's ensign of 
imperial power, became distinctively such, according to 
Pliny, no earlier than the second consulship of Gaius 
Marius or about 105 years B.C. On the other hand, it 
is certain that the apron was worn as a badge of honour 
or sanctity more than a thousand years before Christ. 
The Garter is confessedly the most illustrious order of 
knighthood in England, and is historically identified with 
the chivalry of the Middle Ages. But for this very reason, 
it, like all the other orders of chivalric knighthood, was, 
as has been said by high authority, George Gordon Coul- 
ton,^^ “hampered by the limitations of mediaeval society.” 
Edward A. Freeman, the great English historian, who 

14 Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. XV, p. 858 . 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 4>9 

has perhaps most nearly defined the spirit and influence 
of knighthood, says: 

“The chivalrous spirit is above all things a class 
spirit. The good knight is bound to endless fantastic 
courtesies towards men and still more towards women 
of a certain rank; he may treat all below that rank 
with any degree of scorn and cruelty. The spirit of 
chivalry implies the arbitrary choice of one or two 
virtues to be practised in such an exaggerated degree 
as to become vices, while the ordinary laws of right 
and wrong are forgotten. The false code of honour 
supplants the laws of the commonwealth, the law of 
God and the eternal principles. Chivalry again in 
its military aspect not only encourages the love of 
war for its own sake without regard to the cause 
for which war is waged, it encourages also an ex¬ 
travagant regard for a fantistic show of personal 
daring which can not in any way advance the siege or 
campaign which is going on. Chivalry in short is in 
morals very much what feudalism is in law. Each 
substitutes purely personal obligations devised in the 
interest of an exclusive class, for the more homely 
duties of an honest man and a good citizen.” 

This view presents knighthood as the very antithesis 
of Freemasonry. 

F. W. Cornish presents a somewhat brighter picture 
of knighthood but says, “Against these (virtues) may 
be set the vices of pride, ostentation, love of bloodshed, 
contempt of inferiors; and loose manners.” 

But whether we take the one or the other view, Free- 
man^s or Cornishes, chivalry will not bear comparison 
with Freemasonry in the nobility of its principles. Let 
us set against the pictures of Freeman and Cornish the 

Norman Conquest, Vol V, p. 482. 

16 Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. XV, p. 859. 


50 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 

things which Freemasonry stands for. It is in theory 
at least a vast school urging the study of the liberal arts 
and sciences which tend to broaden, strengthen and en¬ 
lighten the mind. But it is much more than this; it is a 
great society of friends and brothers teaching by precept, 
and let us hope by example, all those mental and moral 
virtues which make and adorn character and prepare us 
to enjoy the blessings not only of this life but of that 
which is to come. Let us enumerate some of the things 
that are taught and, by ceremonies peculiar to Freema¬ 
sonry, are impressed upon the minds and hearts of its 
initiates. A belief in Deity; the service of God; gratitude 
for His blessings; reverence and adoration for His holy 
name; veneration for His word; the duty and efficacy of 
prayer; the invocation of His aid in every laudable under¬ 
taking; faith in Him, hope in immortality; charity to all 
mankind; the relief of the distressed, particularly the 
brethren and their families; the cultivation of brotherly 
love and the protection of the good name of a brother and 
that of his family and the sanctity of his female relatives; 
the adornment of the mind and heart; purity of life and 
rectitude of conduct; the curbing of our desires and pas¬ 
sions; living in conformity to the “Great Books’’ of Na¬ 
ture and Revelation; the practice of temperance, fortitude, 
prudence and justice; the cultivation of habits of patience 
and perseverance; the eschewing of profanity; love for 
and loyalty to country; love of truth; devotion and fidelity 
to trust; the beauty of holiness; the maintenance of 
secrecy; the observance of caution; the recognition of real 
merit; the contemplation of wisdom; admiration for 
strength of body and character; the love of the beautiful 
in nature and art; the observance of the Sabbath; the pro¬ 
motion of the peace and unity of the brethren; the pres¬ 
ervation of liberty of thought, conscience, speech and 
action; equality before God and the law; the cultivation of 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 51 


habits of industry; the certainty of retributive justice; the 
brevity and uncertainty of this life; the contemplation of 
death; and the life everlasting after death to those who 
love God and His creatures and observe His laws. All 
of these and others we are not privileged to mention here 
are taught every candidate and are impressed upon his 
mind by peculiar ceremonies which constitute a part 
of the arcana of the lodge. 

Do you say that all these things may be learned else¬ 
where with equal thoroughness and equal ease, and that 
Masonry is therefore a useless institution ? 

We maintain not. The fact that the institution has 
lived and flourished for so long a period and that it is 
to-day more powerful in its influence and more general 
in its dissemination than ever before proves not. It ap¬ 
proaches the mind and heart from a direction that enables 
it to reach and grapple many men whom no other influ¬ 
ence can reach, while at the same time it doubles and 
multiplies many times the power for good of those whom 
other influences do reach. 

Is it, therefore, any exaggeration to say that Free¬ 
masonry is more ancient than the Golden Fleece and 
more honourable than the Star and Garter, or any other 
order that can be conferred upon its initiate by king, 
prince, or potentate? 

The lamb, as stated in our Monitors, has in all ages 
been deemed an emblem of innocence. This symbolism is 
probably traceable not only to the whiteness of its wool 
but also to its meek and innocent appearance. The Bible, 
as well as other ancient literature, is full of this sym¬ 
bolism. It was required that the sacrificial lamb should 
be without spot or blemish, that is, pure white. It is a 
familiar saying and has been for ages that the lambs shall 
be separated from the goats. The evil symbolism of the 
goat is as old as the benignant symbolism of the lamb. 


52 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


In ancient symbolism, the accursed goat of Mendes typified 
all that was evil. Among the old Greeks and Romans, 
the god* Pan was depicted as half goat, signifying that 
nature was half evil. Among the early Christians the 
goat became the prototype of the devil or Satan. It is 
not surprising, therefore, in a system like ours, employ¬ 
ing the lamb as a symbol, that we should also find a de¬ 
based trace of the goat symbolism, and that we do in 
the vulgar saying that ‘‘riding the goat’' accompanies our 
ceremonies. Of course, this is no longer believed by any 
one but is probably a transference to Masonry by its 
enemies of the old belief that the witches employed the 
goat in their ceremonies. 


WHITE 

The colours which figure in the symbolism of the first 
three degrees are white, black and blue. The symbolism 
of white is obvious, purity or innocence, and it bears this 
signification in all the degrees and has borne it at all times 
and among all peoples of which we have any knowledge. 
To the Jew, the Egyptian, the Greek and the Roman, to 
the savage, the barbarian and the civilised man it has 
borne this same meaning. All literature, ancient, 
mediaeval and modern, is rich with this symbolism. The 
Bible is full of it. As emblems of this purity and inno¬ 
cence we employ white gloves, white sashes, white rods 
and white aprons. 


BLACK 

with us, is a symbol of death and an emblem of mourning. 
Its symbolism is as obvious and as universal as is that of 
white. At the funeral of a brother the Deacons carry 
black rods; and the white rods of the Stewards, all the 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 5S 


furniture carried in the procession, the musical instru¬ 
ments and the Bible are all draped with black. In token 
of our sorrow we wear a small black ribbon on the coat 
lapel and drape the lodge in black. 

BLUE 

symbolises universal friendship and benevolence, but its 
symbolism is not as obvious and uniform as is that of 
black and white. To different peoples and at different 
times and in the different degrees of Masonry it has dif¬ 
ferent meanings. It is, however, distinctly the colour of 
the first three degrees and they are in consequence known 
as Blue Masonry. Its symbolism of universal friendship 
and benevolence it is supposed to derive from the all- 
embracing nature of the blue vault of heaven which seems 
to comprehend within its sweep all the visible universe. 
Blue has a warmth about it which makes it a peculiarly 
appropriate emblem of that warmth of feeling that goes 
with friendship and benevolence. 

GLOVES 

The apprentices to operative Masons have always worn 
gloves to protect their hands in the handling of the un¬ 
dressed stone. Two hundred years ago, and possibly 
even later, it was the custom of the Freemasons in Eng¬ 
land to present the Entered Apprentice candidate with 
white gloves in much the same manner and with like 
symbolism as they then and as we now present him with 
a white apron. This ceremony is still preserved on the 
continent of Europe and, though the ceremony is aban¬ 
doned in both England and America, it is still common 
in England for Masons in all degrees to wear white 
gloves. They symbolise the same purity of life and recti- 


54 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


tude of conduct as does the Apron. Yet on the mistaken 
assumption that Entered Apprentices and Fellow Crafts 
did not wear gloves in the time of King Solomon, the 
Grand Lodge of Alabama recently made an important 
change in the Master’s Degree. Let us hope that this 
mistake will be speedily corrected. 

DEFINITION OF A LODGE 

We are told that a lodge is a certain number of Masons 
duly assembled with the Holy Bible, Square and Com¬ 
passes. These three properties should indeed always be 
present, but to the existence of a lodge in its highest 
sense it is more necessary that there should be present 
what they symbolise, namely: Truth, Virtue and Self- 
restraint. Without these there may be the semblance of 
but no real lodge. Bible, Square and Compasses should 
be displayed in every opened lodge, not chiefly for their 
own sake but for what they represent. 

HIGH HILLS AND LOW VALES 

We are told that our ancient brethren usually held 
their lodges on high hills or in low vales. This allusion 
to this custom of antiquity is another hoary lock upon 
the brow of our symbolism. The explanation given is 
a very simple and practical one, namely: because they 
better lent themselves to purposes of secrecy. But there 
is another and deeper reason. Whatever may be the ex¬ 
planation, it is clear that from the remotest times hills 
and valleys have been peculiarly venerated by mankind. 
On the “High Places” the Jews and their neighbours wor¬ 
shipped God; the glens and dales our imagination has 
populated with the charming “Little People,” the sprites, 
the nymphs, and the fairies of mythology and our nursery 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 55 


tales. The beauty spots of earth are where mountains and 
valleys succeed each other in greatest profusion. These 
are they that in all ages have testified to the majesty and 
glory of God and have stirred our imaginations and in¬ 
spired our poets.^^ 

THE VALLEY OF JEHOSHAPHAT 

figured prominently in the early Masonic rituals but in 
the recent ones it has almost wholly disappeared. Still, 
among a few old Masons, the expression lingers. In the 
old rituals, it was mentioned, in conjunction with '‘high 
hill” and “low vales,” as a place where Masons held their 
lodges.^® 

The only mention of this valley in the Bible is in the 
prophet Joel, (iii, 2, 12,) and is commonly supposed to 
refer to the deep valley lying between the city of Jeru¬ 
salem and the Mount of Olives, through which flows 
the brook Kidron. Joel records Jehovah as declaring, 
“I will also gather all nations and will bring them down 
to the valley of Jehoshaphat and will plead with them 
there for my people and for my heritage of Israel, whom 
they have scattered among the nations and parted my 
land,” and “Let the heathen be awakened and come up 
to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge 
all the heathen round about.” The meaning of Jehosha¬ 
phat in the Hebrew is “valley of the judgment of God” 
or, as expressed by Joel (iii, 14), “the valley of de¬ 
cision.” The foregoing passages gave rise to the belief 
among both Jews and Mohammedans that the valley 
of Jehoshaphat would be the seat of the last judgment. 
Peculiar sanctity was, therefore, held to attach to it and 

Q, C., Vol. Ill, p. 21; Speth, Orientation of Temples, p. 6; 
U. M. L., Vol. VI, Part II, p. 66. 

A. Q. C., Vol. Ill, p. 21; The Masonic Manual, Jonathan Ashe, 
Argument X; (U. M. L., Vol. VI, Part II, p. 66). 


56 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 

to say that a lodge was held in the valley of Jehoshaphat 
was to say that it was held on holy ground. 

To speak of a lodge “in the valley of Jehoshaphat’^ 
had much the same import as when we speak of “a lodge 
of the Holy Saints John at Jerusalem.” Jerusalem is a 
holy city and hence to hold a lodge there is to hold it on 
holy ground. 


UNTEMPERED MORTAR 

We are taught never to daub with untempered mortar, 
a thing indeed which the operative mason should never 
do, but this saying is meaningless to us unless we under¬ 
stand its symbolical signification. For the operative 
mason to use untempered mortar is for him to begin his 
work without proper preparation. The admonition, there¬ 
fore, never to daub with untempered mortar is to teach 
us that we should never undertake any task without due 
preparation whether that task be mechanical or mental. 
More poor jobs and more failures in life result from 
insufficient preparation than from any other one cause, 
if not from all other causes combined. 

Time spent in preparation for a given task or for one’s 
life work in general is not lost; it could not be more 
profitably employed; it will in the years to come be found 
to be “bread cast upon the waters.” 

WISDOM, STRENGTH AND BEAUTY 

We are told in our Monitors that our institution is 
supported by three great pillars. Wisdom, Strength and 
Beauty, because there should be wisdom to contrive, 
strength to support, and beauty to adorn all great and 
important undertakings. The lodge whose members are 
characterised by wisdom to plan with judgment, strength 
to resist evil tendencies and influences, and by the beauty 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 57 


of brotherly love and charity is sure to prosper. Nothing 
more is needed to give it success. Truly may it be said 
that these three attributes support our institution and 
with equal truth may it be said that they support all 
other institutions and creations. 

Infinite wisdom planned and formed this universe, 
omnipotent strength hurls the sun, the earth, the moon, 
the stars, through space at speeds we cannot conceive, and 
yet holds each in its accustomed orbit with such inerrancy 
that astronomers can now calculate the position of each 
thousand of years hence, while a beauty which poets have 
for ages in vain attempted to express completes the work. 
In short, wisdom, strength and beauty sum up the uni¬ 
verse in three words. 

Wisdom, strength and beauty make a perfect building. 
There must be wisdom to plan and execute; this gives to 
the structure convenience and utility. There must be 
strength to support; this gives to the building firmness 
and durability. There must be beauty to adorn; this 
gives that which pleases and appeals to man's moral and 
esthetic taste. There may be wisdom and strength but 
without beauty the result is, as has been truly observed, 
mere construction or at most a piece of engineering. It 
may be admirable, even wonderful, but without beauty it 
is not architecture. There may be beauty, but if there is 
not wisdom of plan and execution or if there be not 
strength to resist the processes of decay the result is a 
disappointment. Who, that visited the Chicago Exposi¬ 
tion in 1893 and viewed that dream of beauty, was not 
saddened by the thought that there was no strength there? 
These three essentials of architecture, Vitruvius, the noted 
architect who flourished shortly before Christ, enumerates 
as Firmitas, Utilitas, Venus fas, which is to say stability, 
utility and beauty.^® 

'^^Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. II, p. 370. 


58 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


So of man. Wisdom, Strength and Beauty make a 
perfect man. How often have we said with a sigh ‘'that 
is a beautiful woman,” or “that man is a beautiful char¬ 
acter, but there is neither wisdom nor strength.” This 
beauty may be so great as to be lovely or be even ad¬ 
mirable but there is no perfection. 

On the other hand, how sad, how inexpressibly sad, 
when we behold a man with a great mind and a great 
body and yet no beauty of character; a soul in which 
there is selfishness instead of sympathy, cruelty instead 
of kindness, hate and bitterness instead of love and char¬ 
ity! When to beauty of heart and person and character 
you add wisdom to plan and strength to execute, weigh¬ 
ing down all evil opposition, we have what may truly be 
called “the noblest work of God.” Nothing can be added 
to wisdom, strength and beauty in either a building or 
in a man, unless it be more wisdom, more strength and 
greater beauty. 

Wisdom and Beauty early became subjects of philo¬ 
sophical study and disquisition. Among the Greeks 
“Wisdom” was regarded as the knowledge of the cause 
and origin of things; among the Jews, it was regarded 
as knowing how to live in order to get the greatest pos¬ 
sible good out of this life. Neither Greek nor Hebrew 
philosophy seems to have concerned itself greatly about a 
future life. This subject was productive among the Jews 
of the Book of Wisdom, which has been pronounced by 
Dr. Crawford H. Toy, as “the most brilliant produc¬ 
tion of pre-Christian Hebrew philosophical thought.” 
The Greeks boasted a vast body of “Wisdom literature,” 
as it is called. So, Beauty gave rise to a body of philo¬ 
sophical thought called Esthetics. The earliest writers on 
this subject, as on so many others, were Socrates, Plato 
and Aristotle. Socrates thought it resolvable into the 
useful and as not existing independently of a percipient 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 59 


mind. Plato took the contrary view on each point. Aris¬ 
totle made great advance on both and defined certain essen¬ 
tial elements of beauty which have since been generally 
accepted. All agree that the purest of our pleasures arise 
from the contemplation of the beautiful and that the 
effect is chastening and elevating. Freemasonry combines 
this philosophy with both the Greek and the Hebrew ideas 
of Wisdom, as a topic worthy of philosophical study. 
With us, as we shall see in the Third Degree, the concep¬ 
tion of Wisdom is extended beyond what either the Greek 
or Hebrews understood by it and embraces the search 
for knowledge of the future. 

Strength was greatly prized by the Jews, as well as 
the Greeks and Romans, and among them was regarded 
as one of the attributes of Deity. Both Samuel and Joel 
acclaim Jehovah as the Strength of Israel. Job (xii, 13) 
declares “With him is wisdom and strength”; while 
David (Psalms cvi, 6) sings, “Strength and beauty are 
in his sanctuary.” But the Preacher (Ecclesiastes ix, 
16) with a truer appreciation declares that “wisdom is 
better than strength.” Examples could be multiplied in¬ 
definitely from the old Bible of the high esteem in which 
the Jews held these three Masonic qualities. 

THE COVERING OF THE LODGE 

The covering of the lodge is said to be a clouded canopy 
or starry decked heaven. The appropriateness of this 
symbol is striking when we regard the lodge as emblematic 
of the world, for such is literally at all times the cover¬ 
ing of the earth. Equally true, in the literal sense, was 
this description when lodges were held in the open air, as 
we are assured and as seems probable they were. In the 
earliest temples erected by man for the worship of God 
there was no roof, the only covering being the sky. To 


60 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


them also this description holds good. This fact may 
give additional point and meaning to the statement that 
our lodges extend from earth to heaven. Later, when 
temples were covered and our lodges began to be held 
in closed rooms, it was customary to decorate the ceiling 
with a blue canopy spangled with stars. This starry 
decked heaven, when now exhibited in our lodge rooms, 
either on the ceiling or on our charts, or master’s carpets, 
is obviously reminiscent of the real canopy of heaven 
with which anciently our lodges were in fact covered, and 
is symbolical of that abode of the blessed which is uni¬ 
versally regarded as located in the sky.^® 

THE ORNAMENTS OF THE LODGE 

The ornaments of the lodge are the Mosaic Pavement, 
the Indented Tessel and the Blazing Star; that is to say 
its floor, the margin thereof, and the stars with which 
its ceiling are or should be decorated. Does this sym¬ 
bolism hold good when applied to the earth? It does 
most perfectly. To the beholder the visible part of the 
earth appears as surface, horizon and sky. The surface 
of the earth, if viewed from above checkered with fields 
and forests, mountains and plains, hills and valleys, land 
and waters, would be found to look very much like a 
pavement of Mosaic work. A few miles up it would 
seem almost as delicate. The horizon, that mysterious 
region that separates land and sky, earth and heaven, 
where the heavenly bodies appear and disappear, with its 
inexpressible charms and numberless beauties, has in all 
ages been a source of mystery and inspiration to the poets. 
It is fitly typified by the splendid borders which surround 

20 Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. 235; Mackey, Symbolism of Free- 
masonry, p. 117; Hamlfn, History of Architecture, p. 26; Stein- 
brermer, History of Masonry, p. 150. 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 61 


the floors of some of our most magnificent buildings and 
which is fabled to have surrounded the floor of Solomon’s 
Temple, while the firmament above, studded with stars 
by night and the blazing sun by day, completes the orna¬ 
mental scheme of the earth. The surface, the horizon, the 
firmament embrace all of visible beauty of Nature there 
is, and they have never yet been exhausted by poet, painter 
or singer. 

Opinions have differed much whether the Blazing Star, 
classed as one of the ornaments of the lodge, alludes to 
the sun, or some particular star, or to the heavenly bodies 
in general. It has an ancient and interesting symbolism 
with which the statement of our Monitors, that it hiero- 
glyphically represents Divine Providence, is in substantial 
accord. 


THE THREE GREAT LIGHTS 

If we read discerningly the explanation given of these 
in our lectures and ceremonies we must perceive that they 
symbolise, respectively: (i) The Bible symbolises the 
word of God, not merely that disclosed in His revealed 
word, but including also the knowledge which we acquire 
from the great book of Nature; (2) the Square typifies 
the rule of right conduct, and (3) the Compasses is an 
emblem of that self-restraint which enables us on all oc¬ 
casions to act according to this rule of right. Beyond a 
perfect knowledge of God’s word and therefore of the 
rule of right living nothing is needed to make the perfect 
man except a perfect self-restraint. 

The value and importance of self-restraint is thus por¬ 
trayed by Brother Albert Pike: 

‘The hermetic masters said, ‘Make gold potable 
and you will have the universal medicine.’ By this 


62 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


they meant to say, ‘Appropriate Truth to your use, let 
it be the spring from which you shall drink all your 
days and you will have in yourself the immortality 
of the Sages/ Temperance, tranquillity of the soul, 
simplicity of the character, the calmness and reason 
of the will, make man not only happy bpt well and 
strong. It is by making himself rational and good 
that man makes himself immortal. We are authors 
of our own destinies, and God does not save us with¬ 
out our co-operation.^' 

THE THREE LESSER LIGHTS 

Equally appropriate is the symbolism of the Three 
Lesser Lights. It was literally true of our ancient opera¬ 
tive brethren that from the Sun and Moon they obtained 
all that natural light which rendered possible those great 
architectural creations, some of which still remain as per¬ 
petual sources of wonder and delight. But all this skill 
must have quickly perished from the earth had not the 
Master communicated to the Apprentice from genera¬ 
tion to generation the mental illumination which kept 
alive the knowledge of architecture. Thus literally were 
the Sun, Moon and Worshipful Master lights to our 
ancient operative brethren. But as a knowledge of ar¬ 
chitecture is less than knowledge of God; as the correct 
rule of building is less than the correct rule of living; as 
the restraints imposed upon the structure is less impor¬ 
tant than the restraint imposed upon one's self, so are the 
Sun, Moon and Worshipful Master less important lights 
than are the Bible, Square and Compasses, when rightly 
understood. 

To the untutored mind the sun was the most striking 
object in nature. His daily march across the heavens must 
to those, who did not know that his motion was only 
apparent, have been far more impressive than to us. 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 63 


Add to these his enlightening and fructifying influences, 
which must have been apparent to man even in his rudest 
stages of development, and we are not surprised that the 
orb of day became in all countries an object of worship. 
The point of his daily appearance, the East; his station 
at the midday hour, the South; the quarter of his dis¬ 
appearance at night, the West, could not fail to become 
objects of special significances. He seemed to shun the 
North, whence it became in popular opinion a place of 
darkness. It is obvious that conceptions like these be¬ 
long to a past age and yet they contribute to the completion 
of that allegory of the world and human life which we 
know as Freemasonry. 

Of scarcely less interest to man in all ages have been 
the Moon and the Stars; little less striking and even more 
beautiful are they. The glorious orbs of day and night 
have not yet lost their power to stir thoughts of divinity 
in the human mind, as witness Joseph Addison’s beautiful 
words: 


“The spacious firmament on high, 

With all the blue ethereal sky. 

And spangled heavens, a shining frame, 
Their Great Original proclaim. 

The unwearied sun from day to day. 
Does his Creator’s power display. 

And publishes to every land. 

The work of an almighty hand. 

Soon as the evening shades prevail. 

The moon takes up the wondrous tale. 
And nightly, to the listening earth. 
Repeats the story of her birth ; 

While all the stars that round her burn. 
And all the planets in their turn. 


64 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


Confirm the tidings as they roll, 

And spread the truth from pole to pole. 

What though in solemn silence all 
Move round the dark terrestrial ball ? 
What though no real voice nor sound 
Amid the radiant orbs be found ? 

In reason’s ear they all rejoice, 

And utter forth a glorious voice; 

For ever singing as they shine, 

The hand that made us is divine.” 


NATURE 

Allusions to the sun, the moon, the stars, the firma¬ 
ment, the horizon, the earth, the seas, the rivers, the moun¬ 
tains, the valleys, so frequent in our Ritual, are designed 
to tempt us to a study of Nature. We hardly yet realise 
its possibilities as sources of elevating and useful knowl¬ 
edge. Only ignorance would decry a study of Nature 
as a bountiful manifestation of God’s revelation of him¬ 
self. The theologian who would deny his followers the 
right to draw from the great Book of Nature conclusions 
as to the attributes and characteristics of Deity, is narrow 
and ignorant in the extreme. 

In one of the higher degrees of Masonry we are told:—• 

‘^Nature is the primary, consistent, and certain 
revelation of God. It is His utterance, word and 
speech. Whether He speaks to us through a man, 
must depend even at first upon human testimony and 
afterward on hearsay and tradition. But in and by 
His work, we know the Deity. The visible is the 
manifestation of the invisible. 

‘‘The man who denies God is as fanatical as he 
who defines Him with pretended infallibility. God is 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 65 


ordinarily defined by expressing every thing that He 
is not. 

“Man makes God by an analogy from the less to 
the greater; the result is that his conception of God 
is always that of an infinite man, who makes of man 
a finite God. 

“The work of God is the Book of God and in what 
He writes we ought to see the expression of His 
thought, and consequently of His Being; since we 
conceive of Him as the Supreme Thought.’^ 

These quotations from the Scottish Rite Degrees are 
not taken because Scottish Rite Masonry teaches any¬ 
thing different from Blue Masonry, but only as powerful 
and beautiful delineations by that great Mason, Albert 
Pike, of what is taught in the three Symbolic Degrees. 
Masonry does not profess to be able to explain what 
Nature teaches. It recognises that Nature does not speak 
the same language to all men. It simply invites, urges, 
yea, challenges every intelligent human being to a study 
of Nature. It recognises that no rational, sincere man 
can make an earnest study of Nature in any of her varied 
aspects without having his own mind and soul elevated. 
From a contemplation of the immensities of the Universe 
as revealed by the telescope and mathematics, one man 
will imbibe a lesson of modesty and humility; another 
may be inspired with an ennobling sense of the limitless 
possibilities of the human mind that it should be able to 
project itself and solve the problems of billions of miles 
away. 

Science estimates the extent of the known universe in 
quadrillions of miles, a space so vast the mind can form 
no conception of it whatever. A ray of light travelling 
at the rate of 186,000 miles per second, starting hundreds 
of years before Christ lived at one side of the universe 
and travelling continuously until this moment would still 


66 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


lack billions of miles of completing the journey from one 
extremity to the other. Throughout this vast immensity 
at inconceivable distances from each other are millions 
of heavenly bodies of all sizes from that of a grain of 
sand to a sphere so large that if its centre were placed 
at the centre of the earth its radius would extend far 
beyond the sun, all flying through space at enormous 
velocities and yet all held by invisible hands in fixed 
orbits. Can any Book of Revelation more unmistakably 
reveal God? 

Truly did the Psalmist sing: 

‘The heavens declare the glory of God: 

And the firmament showeth his handiwork. 

Day unto day uttereth speech, 

And night unto night showeth knowledge. 

There is no speech nor language; 

Their voice is not heard. 

[But] their line is gone out through all the earth 

And their words to the end of the world.’^ 

Psalms xix, 1-4. 


And again when he says: 

“When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy 
fingers. 

The moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained. 

What is man, that thou art mindful of him? 

And the son of man that thou visitest him?’* 

Psalms viii: 3, 4. 

Every student of astronomy, if he has not asked this 
question, has felt it. 

Again, the Psalmist exclaims that Jehovah has “set his 
glory upon the heavens” (Psalms, viii, i), and the singer 
promises “I will show forth all thy marvellous works” 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 67 


(Psalms ix, i), and declares that 'The earth is full of the 
loving-kindness of Jehovah.’' (Psalms xxxiii, 5.) 

Let the Mason read Brother Sidney T. Klein’s ad¬ 
dress before Quatuor Coronati Lodge of London, en¬ 
titled "The Great Symbol,” and let him behold the aston¬ 
ishing revelations disclosed by the telescope and the 
science of astronomy. 

If by the telescope he reads the wonders of the im¬ 
mense, let him turn to the microscope and study the in¬ 
finitely small. If the discoveries of the skies are astound¬ 
ing, those of the microscope are no less so and no less 
valuable. 

Among the latest discoveries of science is that the atom, 
once so familiar to the school boy, is not the ultimate in 
littleness, as it was once supposed to be. The electrons 
which are now held to make up atoms have diameters 
estimated at the inconceivable minuteness of sixteen one- 
hundred trillionths of an inch. Varying numbers of 
these electrons, not touching another but relatively as far 
from one another as the heavenly bodies are from one 
another, form atoms. In other words, each atom is an 
infinitesimal universe in itself. The microscope also 
shows a drop of water, or a grain of earth, to be a living 
universe. 

Then study the ant; the germs of disease; the varied 
manifestations of force; the phenomena of music, heat, 
light, electricity, and the perfect laws by which these are 
all governed. 

Then behold man; the marvellous mechanism of his 
body; the senses of hearing, seeing, feeling, smelling and 
tasting; the perfect action through a long life of the hun¬ 
dreds of his bodily functions the stoppage of any one of 
which is certain death; then consider his mind, his feel¬ 
ings, his affections, his passions, his appetites, his reason, 
21^. Q. C., Vol. X, pp. 82, 203. 


68 iSYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


and finally his spiritual nature. Cease taking the things 
around you for granted as does the ox. Having eyes, see 
the beauties, the grandeurs, the wealth, of Nature. 

Brother Albert Pike devotes more* than one-fourth of 
his great work. Morals and Dogma^ to this subject. But 
he does not undertake to tell us what Nature teaches, he 
does not even essay to tell us what he has learned from 
her. He only rehearses for us what men in all ages and 
all countries have thought that they learned from her. 
Modern science has rendered most of this learning obso¬ 
lete, but it affords a striking story of the efforts of the 
wisest and best of mankind to catch the message which 
Nature has to convey. If the earnest seeker catches it 
only imperfectly or even loses it altogether, the high re¬ 
solve, the noble purpose, is not lost. No one can com¬ 
mune with Nature without becoming a better man and 
it is absurd for a man to talk of knowing God who knows 
nothing of his work. 

It is to a study of subjects like these that Masonry 
challenges us. 


BROTHERLY LOVE 

is symbolised among us by two right hands joined or 
by two human figures holding or supporting each other 
by the right hand. This is a very old symbol and repre¬ 
sented the goddess Fides who anciently was supposed to 
preside over the virtue of ''fidelity.’’ This virtue of 
keeping faith with or performing a duty towards even 
an enemy was greatly esteemed among the ancients, but 
a reading of their literature will prove that the idea of 
love for one’s fellowman in the abstract scarcely found 
a lodgment in their conceptions. It is obvious that the 
virtue of Brotherly Love is of a far higher type than that 
of fidelity. It constrains us to keep faith and perform a 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 69 

duty just as strongly as does the latter but it furnishes 
a nobler motive and impels us to do more when occasion 
arises than to perform the mere requirements of good 
faith and duty. It well illustrates the development, under 
modern sociological and religious teachings, of the ele¬ 
ment of love or charity in all the relations of men. It can 
scarcely be denied that chief among these influences have 
been the lofty and unselfish teachings of Jesus of Naz¬ 
areth. Any one desiring confirmation of this need only 
read C. L. Brace’s Gesta Christi. “Love thy neighbour as 
thyself” was a strange doctrine to most of the people of 
His day, but now it is thoroughly familiar to us, how¬ 
ever imperfectly we practise it. 

David (Psalm 133) sang the virtues of brethren dwell¬ 
ing together in unity and likened it to the precious oint¬ 
ment upon the head and beard of Aaron and to the dews 
which fell upon Mount Hermon. The beauties of these 
similes are so charmingly set forth in an address before 
the Grand Lodge of Alabama in 1843, Brother Eugene 
V. Levert, that I take the following excerpt from it: 

“Because this unity is good and pleasant, David 
compares it to the sacred oil, or precious ointment 
with which Aaron, the High Priest, was consecrated 
to office. This ointment was composed of olive oil, 
with several aromatic substances, which made it a 
most fragrant and delightful perfume. The Israelites 
were positively forbidden to make any like it, or to 
have, or use it for common purposes. This ointment 
of consecration was emblematical of the Holy Spirit’s 
influences, which alone can enlighten and purify the 
heart of man. And by this comparison we are taught 
that God alone can afford that grace by which the cor¬ 
rupt heart of man may be disposed to peace and unity 
with his brethren. He compares it to this ointment 
also, because of the pleasure which such a state of 


70 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 

unity amongst brethren affords to society. That as 
the fragrant smell of this ointment which was poured 
upon the head of Aaron extended to and delighted 
with its fragrance all around him, so unity of breth¬ 
ren is a source of pleasure as well as advantage to 
every member of the community. He compares it 
also to the dew which fell on Mount Hermon. Her- 
mon is a range of mountains on the north border of 
the land of Canaan, or of the Israelites, on the east 
side of Jordan, including within its range several emi¬ 
nences, one of which is called Zion. This is not the 
same as Zion the Holy City, but is one of the emi¬ 
nences of Hermon. It is said that the dew which 
forms upon this mountain is so abundant, that a per¬ 
son exposed to it in the night would be as thoroughly 
wet as though he had been drenched with water; and 
yet it is so salubrious, that a man might sleep in the 
open air all night and be without feeling the least 
inconvenience, or suffering any injury from the dews 
of Hermon. To this abundant and healthful dew, 
David compares unity amongst brethren, to teach us 
that it is fruitful in its benefits and pleasures, shed¬ 
ding an abundance of good upon all who come within 
its influence, communicating the most solid pleasures 
and advantages, without injury to any one. Unity 
among brethren is wealth to the indigent, instruction 
to the ignorant, a friend to the friendless, and a 
father to the orphan. For there the Lord commanded 
the blessing. There, not on Hermon, but on a society 
of united brethren. For where such union exists it 
is the product of the Spirit of Holiness; which causes 
the purified heart to send forth the tribute of praise, 
ardent and savoury, 'as the pot of burning incense.’ ” 

RELIEF OF THE DISTRESSED 

is but a manifestation, a putting into practice in one of 

its most important aspects of the tenet of Brotherly Love. 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 71 


One who loves his fellowman will hasten to his relief 
when in distress. The picture of the Good Samaritan, 
however, so often seen in our Monitors, can hardly be 
said to rise to the dignity of a true symbol. It is only 
an illustration. 


TRUTH 

is said to be the third tenet of Freemasonry. It is sym¬ 
bolised by the Bible. Freemasonry seeks not only to 
render us unafraid of Truth but to impress upon us the 
beauties and sublimities of Truth in all its manifold 
manifestations. There are millions of people (indeed 
the great bulk of mankind), who are afraid of the Truth; 
they fear their preconceived notions and beliefs cannot 
withstand the light of Truth. They forget that a knowl¬ 
edge of the Truth can not possibly injure any person or 
any just cause. In no fields are people more afraid of 
the Truth than in those of religion and politics, and, while 
Masonry dabbles with neither, it does urge the individual 
Mason to be at all times ready and willing to receive, 
accept and act upon the Truth in matters religious and 
political, as indeed in all other matters. One need not be 
afraid of serious religious or political error among a 
people where all are earnestly seeking the Truth and all 
are willing to be guided by it when found. 

There is no lesson more important and none, we be¬ 
lieve, more commonly forgotten among men, than that 
an earnest, burning desire for Truth is the sine qua non, 
without which the highest development of the human race 
is impossible. Nothing has retarded human progress 
more than a cowardly or ignorant unwillingness to know 
the Truth and to have it known. 

We can understand why the selfish man often does not 
want the Truth known, but the pathetic thing is that 


72 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 

most often it is his victim, who struggles most frantically 
to assist in staying the stream of Truth, which, if allowed 
to flow, would soon cover the quagmires of ignorance, 
superstition and error with shining seas of knowledge. 

Masonry also admonishes us to consider the earth, the 
firmament, the universe, all Nature, as a vast scroll un¬ 
rolled before us whereon we may behold and in some 
measure at least read and understand God’s revelation of 
his Truth to man. It seeks to direct our attention to the 
miracles by which we are surrounded every moment of 
our lives, such as light, air, earth and water and to the 
various manifestations of force, such as adhesion, co¬ 
hesion, friction, heat, electricity, attraction, repulsion and 
gravitation, to enlist our interest in them, and to stimu¬ 
late in us an effort in a measure at least to understand 
them. It assures us that like love, it is better to have 
tried and failed than never to have tried at all. From 
a baffled study of any one of the phenomena of Truth we 
return stronger and wiser and better men. 

Moreover, Masonry suggests to us that the unsuccess¬ 
ful effort to learn the truths of nature are not only not 
lost in this life but will bear fruit in the life to come, just 
as the pupil who studies hard but fails is better prepared 
for the next lesson than if he had not studied at all. 

In one of the Scottish Rite Degrees the candidate is 
told: 


'^Nature is a revelation and the light of Truth 
shines everywhere in the world. The want of Faith 
and the refusal of men to reason make the shadows. 
Man is blindfolded by himself. All men might be 
free but ignorance and superstition forge the fetters 
and men enchain themselves and create their own 
bondage. 

If you prefer anything in the world to Reason, 
Truth and Justice; if logic alarms you and the naked 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 73 


Truth makes you blush; if to assail received errors 
is to wound you, seek not to become an Adept. You 
will not comprehend the secrets. To show the light 
to nocturnal birds is to conceal it from them, since it 
blinds them and is darker to them than the darkness.” 

Truth is one of the most comprehensive words in any 
language. If we be true, we can not be false to any duty; 
hence, the entire moral and religious codes are embraced 
in this tenet of our order. Are we not told in the Sacred 
Writings that God himself is Truth? 

LIGHT 

is a familiar and most appropriate symbol of knowledge, 
both mental and spiritual, as Darkness is of ignorance. 
These are among our commonest figures of speech and 
we employ them almost unconsciously, so much so that 
our appreciation of their beauty is greatly dulled. 

In our own peculiar way, this transition from dark¬ 
ness to light is symbolically represented in our ceremo¬ 
nies. 

The “Shock of Enlightenment” or “Battery of Accla¬ 
mation,” says Brother W. Wynn Wescott, “when the 
candidate is restored to light is a direct imitation of the 
sudden crash of feigned thunder and lightning by which 
the neophyte of the Elusinian Mysteries was greeted.” 

Light being perhaps the greatest natural phenomenon 
in the universe, it is appropriate that it should be made to 
symbolise the most important thing in the development 
of human character, namely, knowledge, education, culti¬ 
vation, enlightenment. 

There are said to be three lights in the lodge, one in 
the South, one in the West, and one in the East. There 
is said to be none in the North and that hence it is called 


74 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


a place of darkness. Applied to our ordinary lodge rooms 
this is meaningless, but applied to the world, as the 
ancients knew it, and of which, as we have seen, the lodge 
is emblematic, it has a charming symbolism. It alludes 
to the fact that to persons living in the northern hemi¬ 
sphere (where all the civilised people of antiquity dwelt), 
the sun each day appears in the East, ascends to the zenith 
in the South where he seems to become stationary for a 
short space, and thence descends and disappears in the 
West. The East, South and West seem, therefore, to be 
his stations; in the northern hemisphere he never attains 
the North. The ancients supposed the South to be a 
region of intense heat and blinding light and the extreme 
North to be a region of perpetual darkness. We have in 
this symbol, therefore, a reflection of these primeval con¬ 
ceptions of mankind concerning the world. 

THE JEWELS OF THE LODGE, 

six in number, are said to be the Square, the Level, the 
Plumb, the Rough Ashlar, the Perfect Ashlar, and the 
Trestleboard. In America, the first three are called the 
‘'immovable jewels” and the latter three the “movable 
jewels.” In England, this is precisely reversed, the first 
three being the movable and the latter the immovable. 
No one has yet been able to give any satisfying reason 
for calling either the one set or the other movable or 
immovable. So we shall not attempt an explanation here 
of what has never been explained. 

The real jewels of the lodge, however, are what the 
Square, the Level, the Plumb, the Rough Ashlar, the Per¬ 
fect Ashlar and the Trestleboard typify, that is to say 
(i) morality symbolised by the Square; (2) equality sym¬ 
bolised by the Level; (3) uprightness symbolised by the 
Plumb; (4) a man of untrained, uneducated mind but of 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 75 

sterling character as typified by the stone rough and un¬ 
even in outline but of fine and approved texture, a stone 
capable of being fitted for the finest building; (5) the 
trained and educated man, who by cultivation and develop¬ 
ment of his natural qualities has become both an orna¬ 
ment and a blessing to society, as typified by the stone of 
perfect shape and design chiselled out of the rough stone 
as taken from the quarry; (6) every source from which 
the truth may be learned which Deity has laid down in 
the “great books of nature and revelation” for the guid¬ 
ance of the workman engaged in the erection of that 
Temple not made with hands, all of which is typified by 
the trestleboard on which the operative master lays down 
the designs for the erection of the material building. 

Bearing in mind that the lodge typifies human society 
organised into government, it follows that the jewels of 
any state or nation are, (i) a sturdy, honest, sterling 
people, which, though uneducated to begin with, is capable 
by education and training and by a due use of and atten¬ 
tion to the great truths to be learned from (2) nature 
and revelation, of being developed into (3) a cultivated 
and refined citizenship characterised by (4) morality of 
conduct, (5) equality before the law, and (6) uprightness 
of character. 


PERFECT YOUTH 

In our symbolism, the human body is a prototype of 
the temple of the Deity. This speaking of the body as an 
abiding place of Deity is a very ancient metaphor. There¬ 
fore, we require as fitting that the body of a man about 
to be admitted to the craft shall be whole and without de¬ 
formity. Undoubtedly this requirement began as a very 
practical and serviceable rule when our craft was operative 
and the apprentice was at once put to heavy physical la- 


76 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 

hour. A man of maimed or defective body could not en¬ 
dure the arduous labours involved in building with stone. 

The antiquity of this requirement is undenied and un¬ 
deniable. Our oldest Code of Masonic Law (the Regius 
MS., cir. A.D. 1390), in its quaint language declares.: 

The mayster shal not, for no vantage, 

Make no prentes that ys outrage; 

Hyt ys to mene, as ye mowe here, 

That he have hys lymes hole alle y-fere; 

To the craft hyt were gret schame. 

To make an halt mon and a lame. 

For an unperfyct mon of such blod 
Schulde do the craft but lytul good. 

Thus ye mowe knowe everychen. 

The craft wolde have a myghty mon; 

A maymed mon he hath no myght, 

Ye mowe hyt knowe long yer nyght. 

—11. 149-160. 

Anderson’s Book of Constitutions (1723), the first 
book of the kind ever published and still regarded the 
world over as a standard authority, thus states the law: 

No Master should take an Apprentice, unless he has 
sufficient Imployment for him, and unless he be a 
perfect Youth, having no Maim or Defect in his Body 
that may render him uncapable of learning the Art, 
of serving his Master's Lord, and of being made a 
Brother, and then a Fellow-Craft in due time. 

But, as the society became gradually speculative, this 
very practical requirement was brought over along with 
much other similar impedimenta and as the “perfect 
youth” rule gradually lost its practical value, it took on 
a symbolic meaning. 

The task of the Fraternity was no longer that of erect¬ 
ing temples of stone but that of erecting temples to Deity 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 77 


by developing the individual man into a more or less per¬ 
fect character. By an easy step the human body thus 
became the symbol of a temple of Deity. Indeed, we 
know that even in the days of Jesus of Nazareth the 
human body was symbolically spoken of as such. Speak¬ 
ing of His own body, He said, ^‘Destroy this temple and 
in three days I will raise it up.’’ When the human body 
became symbolical of the temple, it was felt that only a 
body without blemish, a body whole of its limbs as a man 
ought to be, a perfect youth was a fit symbol of the 
temple of God, just as a lamb with spot or blemish was 
regarded as an unworthy sacrificial offering. 

It is argued now in this utilitarian age that this re¬ 
quirement arose out of the necessities of a society of 
operative workmen, and is unsuited to our present Specu¬ 
lative Masonry. The contention is that the utilitarian 
purpose of the regulation having ceased, the regulation it¬ 
self is no longer binding. They forget that many things, 
once serving purely practical purposes in our Fraternity, 
but now entirely useless from that viewpoint, were for 
symbolic reasons brought over from operative into Specu¬ 
lative Masonry. Of what utility in the lodge, we may 
ask, are now the Square, the Level, the Plumb, the Com¬ 
passes, the Twenty-four-inch Gauge, the Chisel, the 
Trowel, the Spade? None whatever. This line of reason¬ 
ing would, therefore, dispense with them also. They are 
retained and cherished solely because they symbolise cer¬ 
tain virtues or truths. So it is with man. The most 
fundamental symbolism in Masonry is as we have just 
seen that man is a piece of flawless material to be chiselled 
and polished into a perfect stone to be used in the erection 
of a moral and spiritual temple. It is an ancient meta¬ 
phor, older than the Christian era that man symbolises 
the temple or abiding place of Deity himself. A perfect 
specimen of physical manhood is an admirable and a 


78 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 

marvellous piece of work regardless of the mind or the 
character housed in it. According to our conceit, it is 
made in the very image of God.—(Genesis i, 26.) In 
other words, the human body typifies Deity. Carlyle in 
Sartor Resartus exclaims, ‘‘What is man himself but a 
symbol of God!” An imperfect, a crippled, a maimed 
body is an unworthy type in such a sublime symbolism. 
Surely nothing less than a “perfect youth having no maim 
or defect in his body that may render him incapable of 
learning the art, of serving his Master’s Lord, and of 
being made a Brother, and then a Fellow-Craft in due 
time” is a fit symbol of Deity, or of his perfect abiding 
place, or of a perfect stone in a perfect temple. How¬ 
ever pure the material, who would think of putting a 
broken stone in a fine edifice? And what would one 
think of a temple splendidly furnished inside, built of the 
finest marble, but with a broken column, a cracked frieze 
or a shattered dome? 

The argument, sometimes made, that Freemasonry 
should not be so exacting as to physical perfection while 
we admit those possessed of less than moral perfection 
proceeds on a false assurnption. Freemasonry has never 
declared any lower standard of moral qualification for its 
initiates than that they shall be “good men and true, or 
men of honour and honesty.” If less than these find their 
way into our lodges, the fault is not with Freemasonry 
or its laws, but with us whose duty it is to guard our 
portals against the unworthy. Because we are careless or 
sometimes deceived at one point is no reason why we 
should obliterate a “landmark” elsewhere. 

This utilitarian spirit which would knock off a mark of 
antiquity here and another yonder, because they are no 
longer serviceable, would soon strip our Fraternity com¬ 
pletely of that delightful flavour of age which is one of 
its chief charms. 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 79 


Our operative brethren required of their initiates just 
such degree of “physical perfection’' as enabled them to 
perform the work of the operative lodge. We should like¬ 
wise require just such degree of “physical perfection” as 
will enable our initiates to perform the “work” of the 
Speculative lodge. 

At the same time we do not think it necessary to the 
preservation of this symbolism that an Entered Appren¬ 
tice should be denied advancement because of a maim 
suffered after initiation. The idea of man as a symbol 
of a perfect stone in a temple is taught chiefly in the 
First Degree, “living stones for that spiritual building, 
that house not made with hands, eternal in the heaven's.” 
So it is of the symbolism of the Rough Ashlar and the 
Perfect Ashlar. Many considerations operate in favour 
of the advancement of the Entered Apprentice or Fellow 
Craft, notwithstanding a maim after initiation which do 
not apply to the profane. 

We have gotten along very well with this restriction of 
“physical perfection.” Many think the increase in mem¬ 
bership has been too rapid. There is at least no necessity 
to open the door any wider to the profane. When we 
open it to the worthy maimed, we also open it to the 
unworthy maimed. 

THE SQUARE 

The Entered Apprentice is taught that the Square sym¬ 
bolises morality. Acting “upon the square” is a familiar 
metaphor for fair and honest dealings. A like symbolic 
meaning attaching to this tool has been traced in China 
back five hundred years before Christ. In the Great 
Learning it is stated that abstaining from doing unto 
others what one would not they should do unto him “is 
called the principle of acting on the square.” 

22 ^. Q. C., II, p. 120 ; Ibid., Ill, p. 14 . 


80 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


In 1830, workmen engaged in rebuilding Baal bridge 
near Limerick, Ireland, found beneath the foundation 
stone a metallic square bearing the date 1517 and also 
the following inscription: 

‘T will strive to live with love & care, 

Upon the level, by the square/’ 

This indicates strongly that mediaeval operative Masons 
attached to the Square the same symbolic meaning we do 
to-day. 


THE LEVEL 

The Level is said to teach equality among us; not equal¬ 
ity in mind or character or wealth or learning; not the 
equality of the communist or the anarchist; not even that 
all men and women are socially equal, for none of these 
things are true. Masonry does not profess the impossible 
of making the weakest the equal in strength of the strong¬ 
est, or the simpleton the intellectual equal of the genius, 
or the pervert the moral equal of upright man, or the 
outcast the social equal of respectable people. It does not 
attempt to equalise wealth by taking from him who hath 
and giving to him who hath not. This word ‘‘equality” 
has been greatly misunderstood, if not deliberately 
abused, in the fields of politics, business, industry, eco¬ 
nomics and society. False and dangerous doctrines, poli¬ 
cies and systems have been founded upon it. The world 
is now witnessing the disastrous consequences of one 
of these false systems applied to Russia. 

To understand the meaning of this term “equality,” as 
used by us, we must go back to the days when society 
was divided into castes or classes, for example, the no- 

23Kennmg’s Cyclopedia of Freemasonry ( 1878 ), p. 603 . 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 81 


bility, the clergy, the yeomen, the serfs, the slaves, in 
which each class enjoyed legal rights not given to a lower 
class; in which certain higher classes had the power of 
life or death over those of lower classes; in which social 
intercourse by an individual, however honourable, of a 
lower class with those of a higher class was forbidden. 
It is artificial distinctions like these which we repudiate. 
But differences, created by God or resulting from the 
conduct or efforts of the individuals themselves. Masonry 
does not profess to abrogate or obliterate. It could not 
if it would; it would not if it could. Masonry believes in 
every man having the just reward of his industry or his 
genius. It does not believe in arbitrarily raising the slug¬ 
gard to the level of prosperity and material comfort en¬ 
joyed by the industrious. It does not thus set a premium 
on indolence. It does not believe in arbitrarily placing 
the man of no intellect or one who has neglected or 
refused to use his intellect on the same level with the man 
who by cultivation of his talents has greatly multiplied 
his powers of production. Masonry would not thus dis¬ 
courage the development of natural ability. 

On the contrary, Masonry by its systems of degrees, 
from one of which the candidate can not, at least theoreti¬ 
cally, be advanced to a higher degree until by his own 
efforts he has mentally and morally fitted himself for the 
next degree, teaches a lesson that only by proficiency and 
efficiency does any man become entitled to advancement 
among his fellowmen. How much of baseless and bitter 
discontent would disappear from among men and what an 
impetus to labour and effort would be given if we could 
all be made thoroughly to understand this lesson! 

We are entitled to nothing that we do not earn. There 
is no excellence without great labour. God wisely made it 
so and it is useless for us to kick against the pricks. 


82 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


THE PLUMB 

It is perfectly natural in a system where the tools of 
the operative builder are made to symbolise aspects of 
human conduct or character that the Plumb should sym¬ 
bolise uprightness of life. This symbolism is very old, 
going at least back to the days of Manasseh, king of 
Judah, that is to say more than seven hundred years be¬ 
fore Christ. Because of the sins of Manasseh, the Lord 
said “I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria and 
the plummet of the house of Ahab.” (2 Kings xxi, 13.) 
In the days of Isaiah, the Lord declared, ^^^o 

will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet.” 
(Isaiah xxviii, 17.) And in Zechariah iv, 10, the word 
of the Lord is quoted as saying, “They shall rejoice and 
shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel.” We 
introduce in our ceremonies a beautiful passage from 
Amos, with which we are all familiar, and which being 
interpreted means that the Lord had been lenient with 
his people in the past but without avail; he now proposed 
to set up in their midst a test of uprightness—a plumb- 
line—and if his people failed to measure up to it he would 
no more ignore their shortcomings but would punish them 
rigorously. (Amos, vii, 7, 8.) 

Jacob’s ladder 

The Ladder is, of course, an implement familiar to the 
builder. It was in constant use by our ancient operative 
brethren. In a system where working tools are made to 
symbolise moral properties, it could scarcely happen other¬ 
wise than that the ladder would be made to typify the 
power or means by which man is lifted or attains to a 
higher state of existence. It was employed always with 
the same meaning in the Ancient Mysteries and was a 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 83 


familiar symbol of salvation long before Jacob in his 
vision saw it extending from earth to heaven. We, as 
did the ancients, ascribe to it seven rungs, symbolical 
with us of the four cardinal and the three theological 
virtues by which it was supposed a man was prepared for 
and elevated to the higher state. 

SITUATION OF THE LODGE 

The situation of lodges due East and West is not at all 
peculiar to Freemasonry. In ancient times the custom 
was well-nigh universal to locate sacred edifices East and 
West. This is why the Tabernacle and Solomon's Temple 
were so situated. This old idea of orientation, as it is 
called, is practically lost except among Masons. We pre¬ 
serve it in theory even though necessity often compels us 
to depart from it in practice. The parallel between the 
lodge and the world holds good here as elsewhere. As 
the lodge is or should be situated East and West, so in 
ancient times was the world. The “oblong square” 
which made up the ancient world had its greatest length 
East and West. 

THE POINT WITHIN THE CIRCLE 

There is but scanty and unsatisfactory explanation of 
this symbol given in our Monitors, yet its deeper mean¬ 
ings are too vast and intricate to admit of discussion in 
a treatise like this. To it has been ascribed a phallic 
origin; it has been said to symbolise the universe. Deity, 
fecundity and the sun, the lodge, the Master and the 
Wardens, not to mention other significances. We can 
only urge the Mason desiring knowledge on the subject 
to make research for himself.^^ 

2 ^ Mackey, Symbolism of Freemasonry, p. ill. 


84 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


THE PARALLEL LINES 

have been given several explanations not mentioned in our 
Monitors which the curious Mason will have to read for 
himself. They are said to have an astronomical or solar 
allusion. 

There is, however, a very practical symbolism assigned 
to them in our Monitors. They are said to represent St. 
John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, and it is on 
this I desire to enlarge a little beyond what our Monitors 
say. 

Saints John’s Days (June 24 and December 27), are 
among American Masons the only festivals in the Masonic 
calendar. It matters little whether it be true that these 
men were members of our Fraternity. They have been 
adopted by it as symbols. Although Masonry has existed 
from time immemorial and can boast of the great and 
good of every age and clime, although philosophers and 
poets, patriots and heroes, statesmen and philanthropists 
have crowded its ranks, the high honour of annual com¬ 
memoration has been conferred upon only two of its 
members. All the great kings and emperors, all the great 
soldiers and conquerors, all the great statesmen and pa¬ 
triots, who in ages past have belonged to our beloved 
Order, and of whom the order is justly proud have been 
assigned to a position subordinate to these two modest 
patrons of the Craft. 

It is not material to our present purpose whether it be 
an historical fact that they were actually members of 
our Fraternity; its principles shone conspicuously in their 
lives and characters. It suffices here to say, in the lan¬ 
guage of a distinguished Irish Freemason, that ‘There 
seems to be no doubt that the mediaeval Fraternity ac¬ 
knowledged their patronage.” 

2 M. Q. C., Yol. VIII, p. 158 . 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 85 


Why is it that this man who wore a raiment of camel’s 
hair and whose food was locusts and wild honey, and 
this man who was noted for his excessive modesty and 
avoidance of all display, these men who never engaged in 
any of the pomp and glory of the world, have been hon¬ 
oured by Masons above all others? 

It is because Masonry regards not the exterior of a 
man but only his internal qualifications. She bends not 
the suppliant knee at the shrine of wealth, its glittering 
splendours are no passport to her altars and temples, and 
never has it been said of her that she turns her face away 
from him who is clothed in poverty’s rags or veiled in 
poverty’s tears. 

No worldly honours are there recognised. The king 
of England, the President of the United States, when he 
enters a lodge is simply “Brother.” He is there accorded 
no mark of distinction to which every other Master Mason 
is not entitled. Who enters a Masonic lodge leaves his 
titles, his wealth, his worldly honours, at the door. 

“Yes, we meet upon the level 
Though from every station come. 

The rich man from his mansion. 

The poor man from his home; 

For the rich must leave his hoarded gold 
Outside our temple door. 

And the servant feels himself a man 
Upon the Mason’s floor.” 

He who wears the humble garb of domestic industry 
prepared by the hand of a devoted wife is as sure to gain 
admission and find as hearty welcome and rank as high 
as he whose raiment is purple and fine linen and who fares 
sumptuously every day. 

The Saints John possessed few of the external qualifica¬ 
tions which attract the thoughtless crowd. They possessed 


86 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


all those internal elements that make the true man. Be¬ 
yond all others the principles of our Fraternity shone forth 
in their characters and daily lives and for it Masonry has 
honoured them above all others. 

We may and do have unworthy members, those who 
forget and violate their Masonic obligations. None of us 
indeed observe them as we should, but could stronger 
proof than the honour shown these two men be desired 
that Masonry as a whole regards excellence of character, 
the practice of virtue, the adoration of Deity, and the love 
of our fellow men, the doing unto others as we would 
have them do unto us, above any wealth or worldly 
honours ? 

If any still doubt let them remember that the first three 
Grand Masters of Freemasonry were, according to tradi¬ 
tion, Solomon, King of Israel; Hiram, King of Tyre, 
and Hiram Abif; that the memory of the last Hiram 
Abif, a poor widow’s son of the tribe of Naphtali, and 
only a worker in brass and stone, is venerated among 
Masons far beyond his two royal associates. He lived 
a life of such purity and excellence that when the ap¬ 
pointed time arrived he welcomed the grim tyrant death. 
These are the lessons taught by this symbolism, these are 
the men whose example we should as Masons strive to 
emulate. These are the characters that we as Masons, 
imperfect as we are, love and venerate. 

CARDINAL VIRTUES 

The cardinal virtues mean simply the pre-eminent or 
principal virtues. They were declared by Socrates and 
Plato four hundred years before Christ, as they are by 
us to-day, to be Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence and 
Justice. This list has been criticised as being arbitrary, 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 87 


as not covering the entire field, and as overlapping each 
other. In the light of the broadening influence of modern 
ethical and religious ideas the justice of these criticisms 
must be conceded. But reflection will disclose to us that 
these four virtues cover a surprisingly large part of the 
moral realm of human life. 

Temperance means moderation not only in drink but 
in diet, not only in diet but in action, not only in action 
but in speech, not only in speech but in thought, not only 
in thought but in feeling. It condemns excess of every 
kind; of our affections as well as our passions; of our 
feelings as well as our appetites. The libertine, the glut¬ 
ton, the gambler, the miser and the profane swearer are 
all equal to the drunkard guilty of intemperance. 

Fortitude implies, it is true, a physical bravery that 
leads one to resist insult or attack with force, but more 
especially that moral courage that enables one at the risk 
of incurring the sneers of others, to refrain from a resort 
to violence except where the necessity is imperative. 
When, however, this necessity arises it is not deterred by 
pain or circumstance, be it ever so appalling or threatening. 

Prudence, as the critics have pointed out, enters to some 
extent into the last named virtue. It signifies also to 
meet every situation, however dangerous or difficult, with 
common sense and reason. It is a virtue which is lacking 
in a surprisingly large proportion of the human race. 

Little need be added to what is said of the virtue of 
Justice in our Monitors. It is truly the ‘Very cement and 
support of civil society.’^ This conception of justice evi¬ 
dences a distinct advance by mankind. To be able and 
willing to mete out exact justice to every one, even oneV 
self, in every relation of life, in thought, word and action, 
very nearly sums up the total of all possible human virtue. 
In a system of moral philosophy, such as Plato's (as dis- 


88 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 

tinguished from a religious philosophy such as we now 
have), justice very nearly covers the whole field.^® 

What a multitude of evils and mistakes the full pos¬ 
session and practice of these virtues would enable us to 
avoid! 

But with the birth and development of theology the 
Platonic scheme seemed, and doubtless was, incomplete. 
It took little or no account of those higher speculative vir¬ 
tues which we class as religious. There was absent from 
it the conception of that charity or love which has entered 
so largely into modern sociological thoughts and move¬ 
ments. The later philosophical and religious teachers, 
therefore, added to the cardinal virtues what they termed 
the theological virtues, namely. Faith, Hope and Char¬ 
ity. These three were believed to include anything 
omitted from the other four, and together were supposed 
to cover the entire field of the moral thought and conduct 
of man. 

Masonic Faith, it seems to me, is a very simple thing. 
We do not need to trouble with the refinements of the 
theologians, such as those of Avicenna, Maimonides, 
Ghazali, Jehuda Halevi, Averroes, Anselm, Abelard, 
Calvin, Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas, William of 
Occam, etc. We are not concerned with the Christian doc¬ 
trine of justification by faith. Whether reason and the 
theologian’s faith are in accord or at war with each other 
does not concern us. We attempt no decision between the 
Nominalists and the Thomists. We do not have to recon¬ 
cile or explain the rival theories of “Ontologism” and 
‘‘Psychologism,” and many other mystifying “isms.” We 
are dealing with something so simple it can not be in con¬ 
flict with anything that is true. Masonic Faith means 
no more than confidence or trust in an all-wise, all-provi¬ 
dent and all-loving Creator. The Mason believes that 
2® Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. V, p. 324; Ibid., Vol. IX, p. 813. 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 89 


with such a Father no man who does his best has any¬ 
thing to fear either here or hereafter. It may be summed 
up in ten words, “If I but do my part, all will be well.^’ 

But a faith like this might alone lead to a dark and 
cheerless fatalism. Hence, Masonry summons Hope to 
lend her brightness and optimism to the prospect, while 
Charity mellows, and sweetens and softens all with love; 
love of Nature, love of the beautiful, love of the good, 
love of our fellowmen and love to God. 

CHALK, CHARCOAL AND CLAY 

We are told that Entered Apprentices should serve their 
Masters with Freedom, Fervency and Zeal; with free¬ 
dom, in that it should be done freely and without con¬ 
straint as becomes a free man, not grudgingly and hesi¬ 
tatingly as characterises the slave; and with fervency and 
zeal. These terms are synonymous; one is from the Latin 
ferveo, to boil, while the other is from the Greek :seo, 
having the same meaning. We have been unable to find 
that chalk, charcoal or clay anciently bore any symbolic 
significations. It must, however, be admitted that chalk 
is a fitting symbol of freedom, charcoal of fervency, and 
earth of zeal. 


NORTHEAST CORNER 

From the most ancient times it has been the custom of 
builders to lay with ceremonies the corner stone of im¬ 
portant edifices. As it was a custom of the ancients to 
orient their temples, that is, to make them face the East, 
so for some similar reason it was their custom to lay the 
corner stone in the northeast corner. Why this particu¬ 
lar part of the structure was chosen has been the subject 
of much speculation. Some have attributed it to the fact 


90 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 

that the rising sun sheds its beams more directly upon 
this corner of a building situated due east and west than 
upon either of the other corners. But many have sup¬ 
posed (and no doubt truly) that a symbolical reason 
existed for this custom. This also has given rise to 
further speculation and as a specimen we introduce this 
interesting conjecture by General Albert Pike: 

“The apprentice represents the Aryan race in its 
original home on the highlands of Pamir, in the north 
of that Asia termed Orient, at the angle whence, upon 
two great lines of emigration South and West, they 
flowed forth in successive waves to conquer and 
colonise the world.'’ 

As Speculative l^asonry gradually developed from 
operative Masonry, it preserved this ceremony of laying 
the corner stone, because of the moral and religious sym¬ 
bolism which seems always to have pertained to it. With 
the operative it was a serious part of the actual process of 
building; with us its chief value lies in its symbolical 
significations. 

As placing the newly made Entered Apprentice in 
the northeast corner of the lodge marks the completion 
of his initiation, so it symbolises the completion of the 
preparatory period of life and his readiness to enter upon 
its serious labours and business. The admonition there 
given him is, that having made proper moral preparation 
for life, his future activities should be kept in accord with 
the teaching and training he had received in his youth. 

This, brethren, briefly reviews the symbolical teach¬ 
ings of the ceremonies of initiation. As said at the out¬ 
set we have barely touched upon them. Any one of them 
would be sufficient of itself to occupy a whole evening. 

^'^Miscellanea Latomorum (N. S.), Vol. I, p. 122. 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 91 


We could easily consume another hour talking to you 
about the symbolical teachings of the Entered Apprentice 
lesson without exhausting it. Let us illustrate with two 
questions and their answers. 

“whence came you?’' 

Daily this question is asked by Masons without the 
slightest thought as to its real meaning. The answer we 
make to it in the lodge is well-nigh unintelligible, yet 
about as reasonable as any ever given it or which ever 
will be given it. Who can answer the question, “Whence 
came you?” Who has ever answered it? Who will ever 
answer it? Equally baffling and profound is that com¬ 
panion question, familiar in some jurisdictions, “Whither 
are you bound?” Equally an enigma is the answer we 
give it. Simple as these questions appear, they search 
every nook and cranny and sound every depth of every 
philosophy, every mythology, every theology, and every 
religion that has ever been propounded anywhere by any¬ 
body at any time to explain human life. They allude to 
the problems of the origin and destiny of mankind; they 
lie at the foundation of all the thinking and of all the 
activities of man except such as are concerned with the 
purely utilitarian question, “What shall we eat and where¬ 
withal shall we be clothed?” All our better impulses, all 
our loftier aspirations, all our faiths, all our longing for 
and striving after a nobler state of existence, either in 
this or a future life, are but attempts to answer these two 
questions. They are the supreme questions which men 
have been asking themselves and each other ever since 
men were able to think and to talk, and they are the 
questions which men will continue to ask oftenest and 
most anxiously until the time when we are promised that 
we shall know even as we are known. 


92 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


‘'what came we here to do?'’ 

If we came we know not whence and are bound we 
know not whither, then naturally the next questions are, 
“Why came we here ? What came we here to do ? What 
is man’s mission in this life?” If we can not fathom the 
past nor descry the future, maybe we can solve the present. 
The second question however is no less baffling and pro¬ 
found than the other two. If they have reference to the 
origin and destiny of man, this one has to do with the 
riddle of his present existence. Again, we are met with 
the same inscrutable mystery; the three age-long ques¬ 
tions, whence ? why ? whither ? press again for answer. 

And what a simple and significant answer do we give 
this question! Does the Mason proudly answer, like the 
Pharisee, “I am here to teach and instruct others/* “I 
am here to lead and reform others/* “I am here to re¬ 
lieve and assist others.” Not at all. With equal nobility 
and humility he answers, in substance, that, conscious of 
his own weakness, feeling the need of help from others 
rather than an ability to give help, his first duty is to im¬ 
prove himself and to subdue his own passions, to cast 
the beam out of his own eye before undertaking to remove 
the mote from his brother’s eye. To an intelligent crea¬ 
ture, ignorant of both his origin and his destiny, what 
more obvious duty could there be than the cultivation and 
development of his own mental, moral, and physical facul¬ 
ties? Self-subjugation and self-improvement: here alone 
lies before him a sure path. If he sets himself earnestly 
to the task of ridding himself of his own evil passions 
and of improving himself by adding the desirable virtues, 
error in the larger sense is impossible. 

Nor is this a narrow or selfish task he sets himself, that 
of chastening and of improving himself. For lo I before 
he has proceeded far with this task of self-improvement. 


THE ENTERED APPRENTICE DEGREE 93 


the divesting himself of all that is low or evil or base and 
the setting of himself to the cultivation of those virtues 
that truly lend to his own improvement, he finds that they 
also involve the doing of good to others. 

We commend this question and answer to those well- 
meaning brethren who are all the time bemoaning that 
Freemasonry does not become the champion of all the 
*‘up-lift” and ''reform” movements of the day. It will 
be noted that in this question and answer not a word 
is said about "uplifting” or reforming or improving 
others. It is always "myself.” This is an implied ad¬ 
mission that I need improvement quite as much as others, 
that it is presumptuous to pretend to lead and teach others 
until I myself am thoroughly prepared. 

It should never be forgotten that Masonry is not a 
reform society, it is not a relief society. Its original and 
primary purpose was and still is to take men who are 
already "good and true” and, building on that foundation, 
to make of them men of such perfect minds and char¬ 
acters as will encourage others to follow in their foot¬ 
steps. The influences it has thus silently wielded upon 
the political, religious, mental and moral development of 
mankind can never be known. Such things do not find 
record upon the pages of history. We can only surmise 
by looking back and observing how many of those, who 
have shaped the religious, political, and social progress of 
the world in the last two hundred years, have been mem¬ 
bers of the craft. 

Many centuries ago Omar Khayyam struggled with 
these three questions thus: 

"With them the seed of Wisdom did I sow, 

And with mine own hand wrought to make it grow: 

And this was all the Harvest that I reaped— 

'I came like water and like wind I go.’ 


SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


“Into this Universe, and Why not knowing, 
Nor Whence, like water willy-nilly flowing: 

And out of it, as Wind along the Waste, 

I know not Whither, willy-nilly blowing/’ 


PART TWO: THE FELLOW CRAFT 
DEGREE 


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Part Two 


THE FELLOW CRAFT DEGREE 

The ceremonies of initiation, passing, and raising, as 
well as the lectures explanatory of them, are necessarily 
brief; want of time and the danger of over-burdening the 
candidate require that they should be so. The Mason, 
therefore, who relies solely upon what he sees and hears 
in the lodge will obtain a very inadequate conception of 
Freemasonry. He may and doubtless will be more or 
less affected by our ceremonies; it could scarcely be other¬ 
wise, so solemn and impressive are they, but he will fail 
to discover and understand some of the greater truths 
which lie hidden beneath the surface, and can never be¬ 
come truly speaking a ‘^bright Mason.” 

Nearly every Masonic symbol or ceremony (like all 
true allegories) has two (sometimes more) significations, 
one literal, the other symbolical. The literal meaning, 
usually the more apparent, is often of great interest, fre¬ 
quently affording striking evidences as to the origin and 
antiquity of Freemasonry. But it is the symbolical or 
allegorical meaning, usually the more recondite, which 
appeals most to the thoughtful mind. 

Nor is it unfortunate that the more important lessons 
are somewhat veiled from observation. We do not prize 
what we obtain easily; it is that for which we have striven 
or paid a big price which we value. If, therefore, from 
beneath the surface of these familiar ceremonies any of 
us by our own studies and reflections are enabled to dis¬ 
cover and bring to light truths which have lain somewhat 
hidden, the appreciation of them is keener and the im¬ 
pression produced deeper and more lasting than if they 
97 


98 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 

had been open to superficial observation. For this reason 
many of the greatest lessons of Freemasonry are wisely 
hidden away as prizes for the studious and the diligent 
only. The ‘‘mysteries’' and the “secrets” of Freemasonry 
are not synonymous terms; the mysteries continue such 
forever even to the Mason who will not study and read. 
Do you feel that Masonry is an idle and frivolous thing, 
unworthy of the attention of serious men? If so, did you 
ever reflect whether the fault was yours or that of the 
institution? Unless you are sure that you know what 
Freemasonry is and what it teaches and what are its de¬ 
signs and that you thoroughly understand its methods of 
teaching, withhold your condemnation till you have made 
it the subject of a little serious study, because, as ob¬ 
served by an eminent authority, the character of the insti¬ 
tution is “elevated in every one’s opinion just in propor¬ 
tion to the amount of knowledge that he has acquired of 
its symbolism, philosophy and history.” 

Freemasonry is a many-sided subject. There is some¬ 
thing in it which arrests and appeals to the shallowest 
mind or the most frivolous moral character. At the same 
time, there is much in it which has chained the thought 
and attention of the world’s greatest intellects and wisest 
philosophers. It presents many aspects for study and 
investigation, either of which will amply repay the efforts 
of the intelligent mind and will lead to knowledge not 
merely curious, as some suppose, but of the utmost prac¬ 
tical value. 

We are forced to refer again to one line of thought 
touched on in the preceding chapter because we regard 
it as fundamental to the study and understanding of any 
part of Freemasonry. This idea is that Freemasonry is 
an elaborate allegory of human life, both individually and 
collectively, in all its varied aspects, past, present, and 
future; that the lodge represents the world into which 


THE FELLOW CRAFT DEGREE 


99 


mortal man is introduced, lives, moves, has his being and 
eventually dies; that it also represents the place or state 
of the redeemed in the life which we believe follows this; 
that the lodge-member typifies the individual man; that 
its organised membership represents mankind united into 
human society; that the ideal lodge-member, ruled by love, 
wisdom, strength and beauty, typifies man raised from a 
state of imperfection to one of perfection. 

Of all the ceremonies of the lodge, the Fellow Craft 
Degree, when viewed by itself is the most difficult and the 
least generally understood. Preston, who wrote the first 
Monitor, tells us that '‘such is the latitude of this degree 
that the most judicious may fail in an attempt to explain 
it.” In Akin’s Georgia Manual we read that the “splendid 
beauty of the Fellow Craft Degree can be seen only by the 
studious eye and that the Master who would impress it 
upon the candidate must store his mind with the history, 
traditions and ritualism of this Degree.” 

A flood of light, however, is at once shed upon the 
subject when we consider it a part of a human allegory, 
of which the Entered Apprentice and Master’s Degrees are 
respectively the beginning and the completion. 

Let us then briefly consider it in this manner and en¬ 
deavour to reach a clearer understanding of its meaning. 
That we may the better perceive just where it falls into 
the complete scheme, it will be necessary first to consider 
for a moment the Entered Apprentice and Master’s 
Degrees. 

We are told in the Master’s lecture that the Entered 
Apprentice represents youth; the Fellow Craft, manhood; 
and the Master Mason, old age. A little study will serve 
to show us how completely this simile is justified. 

The introduction of first admission of the Entered Ap¬ 
prentice candidate into the lodge, therefore, typifies the 
entrance of man upon the world’s stage of action or in 


100 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


other words, the birth of the child into this life. The dis¬ 
tinguished Masonic scholar, Dr. Mackey, says that the 
Entered Apprentice is a ‘^child in Masonry” and we read 
in many Monitors that “the first or Entered Apprentice 
Degree is intended symbolically to represent the entrance 
of man into the world in which he is afterwards to be¬ 
come a living and thinking actor.” In English working 
the candidate is reminded that his admission into the 
Entered Apprentice lodge “in a state of helpless ignorance 
was an emblematical representation of the entrance of all 
men on this their mortal existence.” ^ 

The preparation of the candidate and the plight in which 
he is admitted an Entered Apprentice strikingly symbolises 
the helpless, destitute, blind and ignorant condition of the 
newly born babe. Yes, it is even certain that there are 
features preserved in Masonic symbolism which allude to 
that part of life preceding even birth and which hint at 
the phenomena of coition, generation, conception and 
gestation of the child in its mother’s womb. These things 
rightly considered are as much a part and as pure and 
holy a part of a human life as birth or death, and could 
no more be omitted from any complete representation of 
it. Let no one, therefore, imagine that he has found any¬ 
thing impure in Freemasonry because he has discovered 
in it symbols and ceremonies which once undoubtedly bore 
phallic significations. 

We may, therefore, say that the Masonic system epito¬ 
mizes allegorically the life of man from the moment he 
is begotten through every stage of existence, conception, 
gestation, birth, infancy, childhood, youth, manhood, old 
age, death, the resurrection and everlasting life. Did any 
greater theme ever engage the attention of any society? 
Anything that pertains to any of these great subjects and 
which tends to strengthen, to elevate or to ennoble the 

^ Mackey, Symbolism of Freemasonry, p. 307. 


THE FELLOW CRAFT DEGREE 101 

human being and his character is properly a part of Free¬ 
masonry. 

The first important lesson impressed upon the candi¬ 
date after his entrance into the lodge is intended to signify 
to us that the very first idea that ought to be instilled 
into the mind of the child is a reverence and adoration for 
the Deity, the great and incomprehensible author of its 
existence. From beginning to the end, the Entered Ap¬ 
prentice Degree is a series of moral lessons. This is a 
hint so broad that one need not be wise in order to under¬ 
stand that the moral training and education of the child 
should precede even the development and cultivation of 
its intellect. How many parents and teachers fail just at 
this point! They polish and adorn the minds of their 
children and pupils with great diligence, at the same time 
neglect their moral training, and when too late find that 
often they have made of them smart criminals. 

The placing of the young Entered Apprentice in the 
northeast corner of the lodge in imitation of the ancient 
custom of laying the corner stone of a building in the 
northeast corner, signifies that as an Entered Apprentice 
he has but laid the foundation whereon to build his future 
moral edifice, that of life and character. It aptly and 
fully symbolises the end of the preparatory period and 
the beginning of the constructive period of human life. 

The admonition there given him is to the effect that, 
having laid the foundation true, he should take care that 
the superstructure is reared in like manner; in other 
words, that his life, his moral temple, be kept in harmony 
with the moral precepts which have been given him in 
the Entered Apprentice Degree. 

This likening of the human body to a temple of God is 
an ancient metaphor. Jesus’ employment of it in speak¬ 
ing of his own body was but in keeping with a common 
practice among Jewish writers and teachers of his time. 


102 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


It immensely dignifies the physical body of man and 
teaches that, when kept clean both in the literal and the 
moral sense, it is a fit place for even Deity himself to 
dwell. 

This body, so powerfully and yet so delicately con¬ 
trived that often apparently slight causes produce death, 
we have no right to defile or abuse with any kind of 
excess. No mechanism was ever so delicately adjusted 
and no careful engineer would ever think of putting even 
too much oil upon a fine piece of machinery. Yet exces¬ 
sive indulgence in food, drink, or other appetites works 
far greater injury to our bodies. 

The lesson is that we have no more right to defile or 
abuse our bodies than had the Jew to defile the Temple 
of God upon Mount Moriah. 

In the Third Degree the matters pressed upon our at¬ 
tention are the closing years of life, death and the vast 
hereafter. The twelfth chapter of Ecclesiastes, the most 
beautiful and affecting description of old age in all litera¬ 
ture is introduced. We are also told that the events it 
celebrates occurred just before the completion of the 
Temple, which is but a figurative way of saying that the 
period of life symbolised by the Master’s Degree is that 
just preceding its close, just before the completion of the 
moral and spiritual temple.^ It is, therefore, with the 
greatest propriety that the Master’s Degree is said to 
represent old age. 

If then the Entered Apprentice represents childhood and 
youth, and the Master Mason old age, the Fellow Craft 
Degree should, in order to complete the allegory, repre¬ 
sent middle life and its labours, and this is precisely what 
it does with the greatest beauty and consistency. 

Although the candidate for the Fellow Craft Degree 
is to be regarded as a seeker after knowledge, yet the first 

2 Mackey, Symbolism of Freemasonry, p. 307. 


THE FELLOW CRAFT DEGREE 


103 


section of this degree consists chiefly of a reiteration of 
the moral teachings of the First Degree. This is to re¬ 
mind the young man as he is about to enter upon the 
serious labours and struggles of life that virtue is to be 
always the first consideration, that no knowledge, no 
success which is purchased at the sacrifice of morals, 
honour or integrity is to be prized. This lesson is re¬ 
peated more than once in the course of this degree, ad¬ 
monishing us that, no matter how engrossed in the affairs 
of life we may become, we should never suffer the allure¬ 
ments of coveted gains to seduce us from the pathway of 
strict rectitude and justice. 

Although thus reiterating and emphasising the moral 
precepts of the First Degree, the Fellow Craft Degree is 
as distinctly intellectual in its purpose and spirit as the 
Entered Apprentice is moral. The great theme of the 
Second Degree is the attainment of knowledge, the cultiva¬ 
tion of the mind and the acquisition of habits of industry.® 
This feature becomes prominent in the second section of 
this degree. Preston, who, as already observed, wrote 
what might be termed the first Monitor, says that while 
the First Degree is intended “to enforce the duties of 
morality,” the Second “comprehends a more diffusive sys¬ 
tem of knowledge.” We read in Simon’s Monitor that 
“the Entered Apprentice is to emerge from the darkness 
to light; the Fellow Craft is to come out of ignorance 
into knowledge.” Dr. Mackey expresses it thus: “The 
lessons the Entered Apprentice receives are simply in¬ 
tended to cleanse the heart and prepare the recipient for 
that mental illumination which is to be given in the suc¬ 
ceeding degree”: and further he says, “The candidate in 
the Second Degree represents a man starting forth on 
the journey of life with the great task before him of 
self-improvement,” and that the result is to be the de- 
3 Mackey, Symbolism of Freemasonry, p. 307. 


104 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


velopment of all his intellectual faculties and the acquisi¬ 
tion of truth and knowledge. In England (Emulation 
Working) the candidate is informed that while in the 
Entered Apprentice Degree “he made himself acquainted 
with the principles of moral truth and virtue, he is in the 
Fellow Craft Degree permitted to extend his researches 
into the hidden mysteries of nature and science,’^ ^ and 
that he is “led in the Second Degree to contemplate the 
intellectual faculty and to trace it from its development, 
through the paths of heavenly science, even to the throne 
of God himself.’’ Brother J. W. Horsley, Rector of St. 
Peter’s Cathedral, London, thus expresses the idea: “Gen¬ 
erally, therefore, we may say that the Third Degree repre¬ 
sents and enforces the blessedness of spiritual life and 
the duty of progress therein, as the Second Degree per¬ 
forms the same ofhce for the intellectual life, and the 
first for the moral life.” ® 

THE JEWELS OF A FELLOW CRAFT 

The very means of gaining admission into a Fellow 
Craft lodge * * *, alluding to the three jewels of a 
Fellow Craft, are made to typify the processes of com¬ 
municating, acquiring and preserving knowledge. “The 
attentive ear receives the sound from the instructive 
tongue and the mysteries of Freemasonry (as indeed all 
other knowledge) are safely lodged in the repository of 
faithful breasts.” 


THE WORKING TOOLS 

The plumb, square, and level were the appropriate tools 
of the operative Fellow Craft Mason. To the Master or 

^Perfect Ceremonies of Craft Masonry (Lewis, i8q6). o S'? 

0 . C, Vol. XII, p. 52. > ^ 


THE FELLOW CRAFT DEGREE 105 

Overseer fell the duty of superintendence, to the Entered 
Apprentice that of gathering and rough hewing the ma¬ 
terials, but to the Fellow Craft fell the labour of actual 
construction. This involved the laying of level founda¬ 
tions and courses, the erection of perpendicular walls and 
the bringing of the stones to perfectly rectangular shape. 
These labours necessitated the constant use by the opera¬ 
tive Fellow Craft Mason of the plumb, square and level. 
Their operative uses very appropriately symbolise the 
analogous processes in the building of human character. 
This symbolical application of these implements of the 
builder is by no means recent; it dates back even among 
the Chinese more than seven hundred years before Christ. 
Five hundred years before Christ what we call the Golden 
Rule was by the Chinese called ‘‘the principle of acting 
on the square.’' Mencius, the great Chinese philosopher, 
who lived in the third century before Christ, teaches that 
men should apply the square and level to their lives, and 
speaking figuratively says that he who would acquire 
wisdom must make use of the square and compasses. 

BOAZ AND JACHIN 

Solomon, in accordance with the common practice of 
his day, placed two immense and highly ornate pillars, or 
columns, at the entrance of his temple. It is well known 
that King Hiram did the like for the great temple to 
Melkarth erected by him at Tyre. Many other instances 
might be cited. Whence originated this custom has been 
a matter for much speculation. We have seen what was 
the ancient conception of the form of the earth. To their 
world the Strait of Gibraltar appeared to be a veritable 
door of entry. On either side of this entrance rose two 
enormous rock promontories, Abyla and Calpe,-{now 
called Gibraltar and Ceuta) which completely commanded 


106 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


egress and ingress and are familiarly known as the 
Pillars of Hercules. They were believed by the ancients 
to mark the western boundary of the world. Many have 
seen in these two vast columns of stone, set by nature to 
the entrance of the then known world, the counterparts 
of the pillars so often set by the ancients at the entrance 
to their temples, which were to them, as the lodge is to us, 
symbols of the world. 

The first objects that engage the attention of the Fel¬ 
low Craft on his way to the Middle Chamber are the rep¬ 
resentatives of those pillars at the entrance to Solomon’s 
Temple. In addition to the explanation given in the lodge, 
they undoubtedly have also an allusion to the two leg¬ 
endary pillars of Enoch upon which tradition tells us all 
the wisdom of the ancient world was inscribed in order 
to preserve it ‘‘against inundation and conflagrations.” 
Standing at the very threshold of Solomon’s Temple, as 
well as of the Fellow Craft lodge, they admonish us that 
after a proper moral training the acquisition of wisdom is 
the next necessary preparation for a useful and success¬ 
ful life.® Their names, Boaz and Jachin, possess also a 
moral signification, meaning together that “in strength 
God will establish His house.” Symbolically applied to 
the candidate, they mean that God will firmly establish 
the moral and spiritual edifice of the just and upright man. 

THE GLOBES 

The idea that the globes upon the two brazen pillars 
represent the globes celestial and terrestrial is certainly 
modern. The globular form of the earth was unknown 
to the ancients. Except to a few profound thinkers like 
Plato, the conception of the earth as a sphere was ut- 

® Mackey, Symbolism of Freemasonry, p. 219 . 


THE FELLOW CRAFT DEGREE 


107 


terly foreign. Not until about the time of the discovery 
of America did this fact become generally understood. 

Moreover, the Bible, at least in English translations, 
says nothing of any globes upon the pillars, but distinctly 
states that there were “made two chapiters of molten 
brass to set upon the tops of the pillars,” and that “upon 
the tops of the pillars was lily-work.” (i Kings vii, 
i 6 , 22.) The more recent revisions of the Bible call 
the “chapiters” by their rhore familiar name of “capitals.” 
The learned Jewish Rabbi, Solomon Jehudi, speaks of 
them as “pommels,” a word signifying a globular orna¬ 
ment. It is well known that many of the architectural 
features and ornamental designs of Solomon’s Temple 
were borrowed from the Egyptians. The so-called “lily- 
work” was unquestionably some form of water-lily or 
lotus pattern of ornamentation so common in ancient 
architecture and which even now is employed in conven¬ 
tionalised forms nearly everywhere. It sometimes as¬ 
sumes the form of the lotus leaf, at others of the full 
blown blossom, and at others still of the bud. Our com¬ 
mon “egg and dart” pattern is a development therefrom. 

At the time of Solomon, one of the most frequent and 
at the same time one of the most beautiful of the lotus or 
water-lily designs was the lotus-bud capital, which often 
assumed an egglike or oval shape. It is accurately in¬ 
dicated by the word “pommel,” and indeed this term is 
employed in some of our Masonic Monitors in lieu of the 
term “globes.” There seems little reason to doubt that 
the two Brazen Pillars were columns of the Egyptian style 
with the lotus-bud capitals. Their great diameter as com¬ 
pared to their height (about six diameters) is another 
strong evidence of their Egyptian derivation. Further¬ 
more, we know that winged globular ornaments, some¬ 
times of immense size, were extensively employed by the 


108 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


Egyptians in adorning the entrances to their temples. 

The lotus or water-lily was the sacred plant of the 
Egyptians and among other things signified ‘‘Universal¬ 
ity.” The conclusion, therefore, seems reasonable that, 
if there was anything like globes on the two Brazen 
Pillars, they were not true globes of the earth and of 
the heavens, but representations of the lotus-bud. If so, 
though the symbol has not been accurately perpetuated, 
the symbolism has. 

There is another ancient conception to which the idea 
of globes upon the pillars may be related. From remotest 
times men must have observed that numerous forms of 
life proceeded from an egg. This observation gave rise 
to the belief which we know to have been widely dissemi¬ 
nated in ancient times, and which modern science has 
almost completely confirmed, that life in every form pro¬ 
ceeds from an egg. This supposed universal source of 
life became to the ancients the symbol of the source of 
things universal. In other words, the egg was the symbol 
of the Universal Mother. It is easily perceivable that to 
a people entertaining these ideas, globes or eggs mounted 
upon columns would convey the idea of universality. 

LILY-WORK 

In addition to the lotus capitals, no doubt the two 
pillars were, in keeping with the universal custom of the 
time, further ornamented with various forms of the lotus 
or water-lily design. The familiar token of peace with 
us is the palm branch, but to the Egyptian and the Jew 
this office was fulfilled by the lotus or water-lily. It is, 
therefore, with precise accuracy that we say that the lotus, 
or Egyptian water-lily (an entirely different plant from 
our lily), denotes peace. 


THE FELLOW CRAFT DEGREE 


109 


THE NETWORK 

The network which adorned the capitals or chapiters 
of the pillars might be more familiarly described as “lat¬ 
tice-work/' Curious specimens of this ornamentation are 
found in ancient and mediaeval architecture, particularly 
in that of the Magistri Comacini, or Comacine Masters 
of Northern Italy. Many of these are of the most beau¬ 
tiful and intricate designs and without either beginning 
or end. A more appropriate emblem of unity than these 
could not be conceived. 

It is interesting to note in this connection, that recently 
a very gifted woman, Mrs. Lucy Baxter, writing under 
the nom de plume of Leader Scott, has in her splendid 
book. The Cathedral Builders, adduced much evidence to 
prove that our modern Freemasonry is derived from these 
same Magistri Comacini, and through them from the 
Collegia Fabrorum, or Colleges of Builders, of the pre- 
Christian Roman era. To my mind, one of the strong¬ 
est of these evidences is the common possession and em¬ 
ployment of this network ornamentation. See The Coma- 
ernes, by W. Ravenscroft. 

This tracing of our society back to the Roman Building 
Societies of the eighth century before Christ (if it can be 
sustained) carries us back to the time when we know 
that building societies were common not only in Rome, but 
in Greece, Egypt, Asia Minor, and Palestine. Indeed, it 
is impossible to explain the erection of such architectural 
wonders as the great pyramids and temples of Egypt, 
Asia, Greece and Rome, without supposing the existence 
at that time of building societies, or associations of archi¬ 
tects, embracing within themselves the most brilliant in¬ 
tellects and skilful workmen, not only then living, but 
whose superior the world has never since seen; in other 
words, precisely such a society as our traditions teach 


110 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 

built King Solomon’s Temple. Evidences of ancient his¬ 
tory point to the existence of such a brotherhood, known 
as the Dionysian Architects, at Tyre, the home of the 
two Hirams at the time of the building of the Temple 
and it was to this place, according to Scripture, that 
Solomon sent when he wanted artisans competent to carry 
out his great design. 

THE POMEGRANATE 

The pomegranate, which also adorned the capitals of 
the pillars, is a symbol of great antiquity, but its meaning 
seems to have been sacredly guarded. Pausanias, who 
wrote about 150 A.D., calls it aporreto teros logos, —i.e., a 
forbidden mystery. Ancient deities were often depicted 
holding this fruit in their hands and this, Achilles Statius, 
Bishop of Alexandria, says '‘had a mystical meaning.” 
The Syrians at Damascus anciently worshipped a god 
whom they called "Rimmon,” and this we know to be 
the Hebrew word for pomegranate. 

Cumberland, Bishop of Peterborough, a most learned 
antiquarian, guessed that on account of the great number 
of its seeds a pomegranate in the hand of a god denoted 
fruitfulness or fecundity. This corresponds closely 
enough with the meaning that we, as Masons, attach to 
it—that of plenty. 

OPERATIVE AND SPECULATIVE MASONRY 

The candidate is informed that there are two kinds of 
Masonry, operative and speculative; the one, the erection 
of material edifices to shelter us from the inclemencies 
of the seasons; the other, the building of that moral, re¬ 
ligious and spiritual edifice, human life and character, that 
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. He 


THE FELLOW CRAFT DEGREE 


111 


is reminded of the historical fact that our ancient brethren 
wrought in both kinds of Masonry, which we work in 
speculative only. With this distinction in mind, the 
candidate is expected to be able to grasp the allegorical 
meanings of the succeeding ceremonies. 

We do not regard Speculative Masonry and non-opera¬ 
tive Masonry as necessarily synonymous terms. It seems 
clear that from the remotest times the operative builders 
were organised into societies or guilds. Though exclu¬ 
sively composed of operative builders, it is quite likely 
that they possessed speculative doctrines. We know they 
adorned their edifices with symbols of many kinds and 
that this continued for ages. It is scarcely conceivable 
that the operative builders could have thus dealt with sym¬ 
bols for so long a time without eventually having come to 
regard them as their own, and without attaching to them 
moral and religious meanings. 

If we suppose that in the beginning the workman was 
employed by the owner and that he built only as he was 
directed and added only such adornment and symbolism 
as he was specifically instructed and that this continued 
to be the case for a long time, it is inevitable that the 
workman would after a while commence to add symbols 
of his own accord and that in course of time this would 
become a common feature of all buildings, particularly 
those of a sacred character. 

Undoubtedly one of the original objects of the secrecy 
observed by Freemasons was to promote knowledge and 
skill in architecture and to preserve the trade secrets of 
the Craft among its members. At that period it was com¬ 
posed almost exclusively of operative masons and so con¬ 
tinued for many centuries. But gradually the outside 
world became cognisant that within the tiled recesses 
of its lodges were taught, by means of most impressive 
ceremonies, many of the greatest truths of morals and. 


112 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 

religion. Non-masons, therefore, began to seek admis¬ 
sion to its mysteries, and the most distinguished for 
knowledge and virtue were received into its ranks. We 
may well believe that at this stage the test of worthiness 
applied to the non-operative seeking admission was rigor¬ 
ous in the extreme. Gradually the non-operatives or, as 
we would say, the speculative members, began to outweigh 
in numbers and influence the operative members and 
eventually the Society became purely speculative. It was, 
however, a long time before the transformation was com¬ 
plete, beginning probably about A.D. 1450 and extending 
down to 1717. Scarce two hundred years ago lodges 
existed whose membership was exclusively operative; 
others exclusively speculative; and others whose member¬ 
ship was mixed. 

As the membership of the Fraternity thus changed, its 
mission also became altered. 

It, therefore, admits of little doubt that our Fraternity 
is derived from an ancient society of operative builders. 
Both the external and the internal evidences are so 
numerous that this fact may be regarded as unques¬ 
tioned. A question then arises and one which in a large 
measure affects the meanings of our symbols in every 
degree. How can it be explained that this Society came 
to be called the Royal Craft? 

ROYAL TRADITION 

The claim that our society has from the most ancient 
times enjoyed the favour, the patronage, the association 
and in some instances the membership of many of the 
greatest monarchs of the past has subjected us to much 
ridicule. It is declared that royalty would scorn to asso¬ 
ciate with a society of mere operative builders, and that 
such traditions among us must be set down to mere pride 


THE FELLOW CRAFT DEGREE 


113 


and boasting. Another that has created quite as much 
laughter at our expense is the claim that our society dates 
back to the beginning of architecture. Understand that 
we do not insist that we have historical warrant for these 
claims. We merely insist that they have been neither dis¬ 
proved nor shown to be unreasonable or unlikely. We 
have scanty enough references to school, colleges, or so¬ 
cieties of builders existing in ancient times, but their 
existence is proved by the buildings themselves. It is un¬ 
believable that such structures as adorned Egypt, Assyria, 
Babylonia, and Palestine, to say nothing of Greece and 
Rome, could have resulted from the disorganised efforts 
of individual masons and architects, however skilful they 
may have been. Such knowledge is not and presumably 
never was inherited or intuitive. It can now and pre¬ 
sumably always could be acquired only by years of hard 
study from some source where the accumulated learning 
of all the past was preserved. There must have been some 
organised institution in which the necessary learning could 
not only be preserved from generation to generation but 
where it could be acquired. It was a time when, printing 
being unknown and writing slow and difficult, books were 
few and costly. Hence knowledge of the art of build¬ 
ing, like all other knowledge, was transmitted by oral 
communication from father to son, from teacher to 
pupil, from master to apprentice. It would naturally 
result that knowledge so rare and so difficult to obtain 
and of such personal advantage to the possessor should 
be guarded with great care. A society possessing it must 
inevitably have become a secret one to the extent at least 
of withholding its trade secrets from the public at large. 
It is a safe conclusion that wherever we find in ancient 
times great architectural works there existed alongside 
them a society of architects of a more or less secret nature, 
who designed and built them. Thus we rationally account 


114 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


for the existence in most ancient times of buildings so¬ 
cieties making secrets of their trade knowledge. The 
little evidence of a direct character which we possess is, 
therefore, sufficient to prove their existence. Our tradi¬ 
tions along these lines are, therefore, in accord with what 
might be reasonably expected. 

But how are we to account for or rather to prove the 
possession of these ancient operative societies of philo¬ 
sophical, moral, and religious tenets and secrets ? In other 
words, while an operative society of builders appears 
necessary to account for the buildings themselves, what 
causes could give rise, within it or alongside of it, to a 
Speculative Masonry? Our traditions claim for our 
Society cordial, if not intimate, relations in the early times 
not only with the heads of the church but with the heads 
of the State; not only with the priesthood but with the 
royalty. Are these claims likely or unlikely, reasonable 
or unreasonable, or are they mere presumptuous boasts 
that ever a society of builders enjoyed the patronage, not 
to say the association, of kings and priests? The build¬ 
ings themselves prove another thing, that the men who 
could design and construct the greatest of them were the 
equals intellectually of any king or priest who ever lived. 
There was nothing in association with such men deroga¬ 
tory to the dignity of monarch or high priest. The 
buildings themselves establish another fact, that in the 
earliest times the operative builders were employed in the 
service of (which is but another way of saying enjoyed 
the patronage of) kings and priests. They prove this 
because with few exceptions they are temples of religion 
erected under the immediate direction of the monarch. 
We credit these priests and monarchs with little intelli¬ 
gence to suppose that their curiosity and desire to learn 
would not be aroused by witnessing the rise of such stu¬ 
pendous and magnificent structures. On the other hand. 


THE FELLOW CRAFT DEGREE 115 

however willing the builders might be to impart knowledge 
of this art to them, they could not learn without coming 
into intimate association with the builders. We can not 
conceive how intelligent monarchs and priests could fail 
to enter into cordial relations of some sort with such 
master artists whose services they were constantly requir¬ 
ing. The more enlightened a monarch or priest the closer 
and warmer would be their relation. To this very natural 
result and not to mere vainglory may be attributed the 
fact that it is the greatest monarchs and priests of the 
past with whom our society claims association. 

THE WINDING STAIRS 

In the Winding Stairs an architectural feature of Solo¬ 
mon’s Temple is seized upon to symbolise the journey of 
life. It is not a placid stream down which one may lazily 
float, it is not even a straight or level pathway along which 
one may travel with a minimum of exertion; it is a devious 
and tortuous way, requiring labour and effort for its 
accomplishment. This is appropriately symbolised by a 
winding stairway. It teaches us that our lives should be 
neither downward nor on a dead level, but, although 
difficult, progressive and upward. 

SCIENCE OF NUMBERS 

The Winding Stairs consist of 3, 5 and 7 steps, num¬ 
bers which among the ancients were deemed of a mys¬ 
terious nature. This introduces us to what is one of 
the most curious bodies of learning of the ancient world, 
what is known as their science of numbers, many frag¬ 
ments of which are scattered throughout Masonry. It 
is exceedingly difficult for the modern mind to get any 
grasp whatever upon what is meant by this so-called 


116 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


science, so highly speculative was it. It does not allude 
as its name might seem to indicate to any of the mathe¬ 
matical sciences, or anything akin to them. It was a sys¬ 
tem or moral science or philosophy, wherein numbers 
were given symbolical meaning and the letters of the 
alphabet were given numerical values; whence words were 
supposed to have certain occult significations according to 
the sums or multiples of the numerical equivalents of its 
letters. The elaboration of this idea was productive of 
what is known as the Hebrew Kahala. Pythagoras is 
reputed to have introduced this school among the Greeks 
and according to Aristotle he taught that “Number is 
the principle of all things and that the organisation of 
the Universe is an harmonic system of numerical 
ratios.^’ ’’ To illustrate:—^the soul was made to cor¬ 
respond to the number 6, and 7 was the counterpart of 
reason and health. 

The numbers 3, 5 and 7 had many meanings among the 
Jews which are not elucidated in the lodge. The preserva¬ 
tion in our ritual of hints of this learning of a past age 
is now chiefly valuable to us as a proof of the antiquity of 
Masonic symbolism.® 

There is another interesting feature of the total number 
of steps of the Winding Stairs, fifteen in all. This was 
an important symbol among the Jews, because it was the 
sum of the numerical equivalents of the Hebrew letters 
composing the word J A H—one of the names of Deity. 

It will also be noted that the number of each series of 
steps, three, five and seven, as well as the total number of 
steps, fifteen, is odd. As we have seen, odd numbers 
were by the ancients regarded with greater veneration 
than were even numbers, Vitruvius, the great Roman 

Universal Cyclopedia, Vol. IX, p. 560. 

® Mackey, Symbolism of Freemasonry, pp. 219, 225. 


THE FELLOW CRAFT DEGREE 


117 


architect, who flourished just before Christ, states that 
the ancient temples were always approached by an odd 
number of steps. The reason, he says, was that com¬ 
mencing with the right foot.at the bottom, the worshipper 
would find the same foot in advance when he entered 
the temple, and that this was considered a favourable 
omen. The thoughtful Mason cannot fail to be struck 
with the coincidence here indicated. 

THE THREE STEPS 

Adopting the method of these ancient men but varying 
the meaning, we make the number 3 allude to the organisa¬ 
tion of our Society with its three degrees and its three 
principal officers. Among the earliest realisations of every 
man is that no man lives to himself alone; that he is 
dependent upon his fellow-creatures and they upon him; 
that he owes them and they owe him mutual aid, support 
and protection; that to secure these advantages some 
must rule and some must at least temporarily obey; that 
there must be classes and that progress from one class to 
another must depend upon proficiency in the former. 
This state of mutual obligation and mutual dependence 
of men upon one another we call Society. The Three 
Steps, alluding to the three degrees and the division of 
our society into those who govern and those who obey, 
leads to the ideas of organisation and subordination in 
the lodge. We have seen that the lodge symbolises the 
world; so its organisation symbolises that of the world 
into society and governments. Dr. Mackey says “that 
the reference to the organisation of the Masonic institu¬ 
tion is intended to remind the aspirant of the union of 
men into society and the development of the social state 
Out of the state of nature. He is thus reminded in the 


118 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 

very outset of his journey of the blessings which arise 
from civilisation and of the fruits of virtue and the 
knowledge which are derived from that condition/’ In 
the allusion to the affairs of the lodge and the degrees of 
Masonry as explanatory of the organisation of our own 
society, “we clothe in symbolic language,” says Dr. 
Mackey, “the history of the organisation of society” in 
general.® This feature is brought out prominently in 
many Monitors. 

THE OFFICERS OF THE LODGE 

It is said that the Master and Wardens bear a solar 
symbolism but this is too abstruse and too lengthy for us 
to enter upon here.^® We are more interested in a very 
practical symbolism borne by them. If we remember 
that the lodge typifies human society organised into gov¬ 
ernment, then it becomes at once apparent that the officers 
of the lodge chosen for fixed periods symbolise the officers 
chosen for the time being to administer the affairs of the 
state. The lessons and admonitions of obedience to the 
officers of the lodge given to its members and the injunc¬ 
tions of moderation, fairness, and justice towards the 
members of the lodge, laid upon the officers at their instal¬ 
lation, typify most strikingly the relative duties which the 
citizens and the officers of the state owe to each other. 
With this symbolism in mind make a new study of those 
portions of our ritual dealing with and defining the 
mutual attitudes of the officers and members of the lodge 
toward each other and these parts of our ritual will take 
o'n new meanings. This feature is brought out strongly 
in the Past Master’s Degree as given in the Chapter. 

® Mackey, Symbolism of Freemasonry, p. 221. 

Ibid., p. 106. 


THE FELLOW CRAFT DEGREE 


119 


THE FIVE SENSES 

No representation of the pathway to knowledge would 
of course be complete without some allusion to the means 
by which it is to be acquired. Thus are the allusions to 
the five senses to be understood. A moment’s reflection 
will prove to us that through them we gain all our 
knowledge and that without them we could learn nothing. 
What wonderful and noble faculties and yet how seldom 
even thought of by us and how little appreciated and 
understood! What a truly marvellous organ is the eye, 
which can without contact make us sensible of the pres¬ 
ence, the form and the colour, of objects at a distance and 
through which we obtain our knowledge and appreciation 
of all that is beautiful in nature. The senses of hearing 
and feeling are scarcely less wonderful and are equally 
important. A little reflection will also furnish us with 
additional reasons to those given in the lodge why hear¬ 
ing, seeing and feeling are most revered by Masons. 
These are in every way the most important. Consider 
for a moment the relatively small part of our knowledge 
that comes through tasting and smelling, and how utterly 
useless these two senses were to our ancient brethren in 
their operative labours. Then consider again how help¬ 
less a human creature would be who possessed neither 
hearing, seeing nor feeling. Helen Keller is rightly con¬ 
sidered a marvel, yet she is bereft of only two of these, 
hearing and seeing. Deprive her of her finely attenuated 
sense of feeling and it would have been impossible for her 
to have made any progress whatever in knowledge. Com¬ 
menting on this part of the ritual, Thomas Smith Webb 
says, ‘To sum up the whole of this transcendent measure 
of God’s bounty to man, we shall add that memory, 
imagination, taste, reasoning, moral perception and all 


120 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


the active powers of the soul present a vast and boundless 
field for philosophical disquisition which far exceeds 
human inquiry.” We could have none of these without 
the five senses, and they are, therefore, introduced as sym¬ 
bols of intellectual cultivation.^^ 

But the five senses are only ministers or servants to 
still more important and more mysterious attributes or 
powers of the human mind, such as consciousness and 
subconsciousness, reason, memory, expectation, experi¬ 
ence, imagination, taste, psychic feelings, emotions, atten¬ 
tion, cognition, conation, desire, perception, judgment, 
ideation, understanding, belief, etc. To get any adequate 
conception of the vast field covered by the characteristics 
and attributes of the human mind turn to some standard 
treatise on psychology. Consider imagination: without 
it we could not have looked into the future and seen any¬ 
thing which we had not already experienced. Improve¬ 
ment along any line could have been nothing but fortunate 
blundering; we could not have consciously gone to work 
to test the truthfulness of reality of a hypothesis, some¬ 
thing we had only imagined or seen in our mind’s eye. 
A wild or uncontrolled imagination we call insanity, but a 
sane imagination has been the mother of all conscious 
human progress. Consider the power of reasoning: a 
disordered reason is insanity, but without reason we could 
from facts experienced draw no conclusion as to facts 
not already known. The man who allows his imagination 
and reasoning processes to run away with his judgment 
is no less an object of either condemnation or pity than 
is the man who allows his appetite and passions to over¬ 
come him. 

Yet, who would, if he could, chain the human imagina¬ 
tion? Who would, if he could, strip us of our natural 
impulse to draw deductions and conclusions ? Misleading 
Mackey, Symbolism of Freemasonry, p. 222. 


THE FELLOW CRAFT DEGREE 


121 


as these two attributes of the human mind are when not 
kept in restraint, they lie at the fountain head of nearly all 
our knowledge and of our achievements. 

The disquisition upon the five senses of human nature 
which appears in our American Monitors may be found in 
the English Monitors also which preceded the revision of 
Dr. Hemming in 1813. He eliminated all reference to 
them and they are still missing from English ‘‘work.’’ 
We feel that in some way Dr. Hemming must surely 
have failed to catch the meaning of this part of our sym¬ 
bolism. Dr. George Oliver, an eminent and learned Eng¬ 
lish Mason, deplores the omission and says that it ought 
by all means to be restored. 

Having thus indicated to the candidate something of 
the importance and the means of acquiring knowledge, 
the proper fields of study and investigation are next 
pointed out. 

THE FIVE ORDERS IN ARCHITECTURE 

The five steps are said to allude further to the five 
orders in architecture, the Tuscan, the Doric, the Ionic, 
the Corinthian and the Composite. Their origins and 
their relative merits are pointed out, and we are told some¬ 
thing of architecture in general. We would naturally 
expect something on this subject in a society derived from 
one of actual builders and architects, and here we have 
an internal evidence of the great age of Freemasonry. 
This is a flotsam which has been wafted to us down the 
stream of time from that remote period when Freema¬ 
sonry was an organisation of operative Masons. To our 
speculative society it typifies all the other useful arts and 
serves to convey to the intelligent mind the truth that 
architecture considered as one of the fine arts is a sub¬ 
ject well worthy of our study. It is through architecture 


122 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


that every great people have left the enduring records of 
their fame. Books perish and decay, but from their build¬ 
ings, which still remain, we know for a certainty of the 
great nations of antiquity. George Moller, in his charm¬ 
ing essay on Gothic Architecture, speaks of these architec¬ 
tural remains as “documents of stone” and declares that 
they “afford to those who can read them the most lively 
picture of centuries that have lapsed.” 

THE SEVEN LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES 

Other fields of study are said to consist of the seven 
liberal arts and sciences and are enumerated as grammar, 
rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, music and astron¬ 
omy. In our Fellow Craft’s charge we are recommended 
to study “the liberal arts and sciences which tend so ef¬ 
fectually to polish and adorn the mind.” In England 
(Emulation Working) the candidate is informed that 
he “is expected to make the liberal arts and sciences his 
future study, that he may the better be enabled to dis¬ 
charge his duties as a Mason, and estimate the wonderful 
works of the Almighty.” 

It is, of course, obvious at a glance that these seven 
subjects enumerated above by no means exhaust the fields 
of knowledge now open to man, but the time once was 
when they did. And herein is another incontestible evi¬ 
dence of the great age of Freemasonry and its ceremonies. 
We cannot do better than quote Enfield. He says that 
in the seventh century, that is to say 1300 years ago, 
“these seven heads were supposed to include universal 
knowledge. He who was master of these was thought to 

12 Mackey, Symbolism of Freemasonry, pp. 222, 223; Masonic Maga¬ 
zine, Vol. VI, p. 427. 

IS Yarker, Arcane Schools, p. 118. 


THE FELLOW CRAFT DEGREE 


123 


have no need of a preceptor to explain any books or to 
solve any questions which lay within the compass of 
human reason; knowledge of the trivium (as grammar, 
rhetoric and logic were then denominated) having fur¬ 
nished him with the key to all language, and that of the 
quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy) 
having opened to him the secret laws of nature/’ At a 
period, says Dr. Mackey, “when few were instructed in 
the trivium and very few studied the quadrivium, to be 
master of both was sufficient to complete the character of 
a philosopher.” 

The term trivium means the three ways, or paths, and 
quadrivium the four ways, or paths, of knowledge. Hence 
it is with the greatest propriety that it is said that we are 
taught in the Fellow Craft Degree to explore the paths 
of heavenly science/® 


THE LETTER G 

This is the initial of our name for Deity and is appro¬ 
priate enough in lodges employing the English language, 
but our greatest scholars maintain that the proper and 
original letter is the letter Yod, which is the initial of 
the name of Deity in the Hebrew language. A volume 
of abstruse symbolism revolves around this letter which 
it is impossible even to enter upon here.^® The serious 
Masonic student must read and study it for himself. 

However, whatever other meanings it may bear, it 
serves again to remind us of the existence and beneficence 
of Deity and of His omniscience, omnipotence and omni¬ 
presence. 

Enfield, History of Philosophy, Vol. II, p. 337; Mackey, Synt- 
holism of Freemasonry, p. 224. 

Mackey, Symbolism of Freemasonry, pp. 223, 224. 

Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. 15. 


124 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


GEOMETRY 

Another numerous class of Masonic symbols are 
geometrical figures, the square, the triangle, the pental- 
pha, the hexalpa, the circle, etc. We know that some 
of them have been employed for ages as symbols of moral 
qualities. 

Geometry is defined as that ‘'branch of pure mathe¬ 
matics that treats of space and its relations; the science 
of the mutual relations of points, lines, angles, surfaces, 
and solids, considered as having no properties but those 
arising from extension and differences of situation.” 
(Standard Dictionary). Or, as defined in our Masonic 
Monitors, it is "that science which treats of the power 
and properties of magnitude in general, where length, 
breadth, and thickness are considered, from a point to a 
line, from a line to a superficies, and from a superficies to 
a solid.” 

It is by this science that we lay off angles, triangles, 
circles, squares, etc., etc., and are enabled to calculate 
their dimensions and areas. By it the surveyor measures 
land, locates rivers and seas, delineates the boundaries of 
oceans, and fixes the limits of nations. By it all archi¬ 
tectural plans are devised and the movements of the 
heavenly bodies are calculated. It is highly probable that 
at an early period every Masonic lodge was a school of 
architecture and that the mastery of this subject led to 
the study of the other liberal arts and sciences, particularly 
Geometry. This accounts for many features of our ritual 
that are otherwise inexplicable. 

Pre-eminence is given by our ritual to the science of 
Geometry. It and its allied branches (trigonometry, 
architecture and astronomy) were the only exact sciences 
known to the ancients, and the perfection to which they 


THE FELLOW CRAFT DEGREE 


125 


had reduced them is even now constantly surprising us. 
By them all mathematical calculations were made. Arith¬ 
metic and algebra in the modern sense were then unknown. 
The astonishing results obtained by them from an applica¬ 
tion of geometrical processes were well calculated to im¬ 
press the mind. As the only exact science known to them, 
Geometry was the most appropriate emblem of moral per¬ 
fection, in an age when everything had its symbol. We 
accordingly read in our Masonic Monitors that of the 
seven liberal arts and sciences, “Geometry is the most 
revered by Masons^’; that “it is the foundation of archi¬ 
tecture and the root of mathematics^’; that it is “the first 
and noblest of sciences”; that it is “the basis on which the 
superstructure of Masonry is erected”; that by it “we may 
curiously trace nature through her various windings to 
her most concealed recesses”; and “discover the power, 
the wisdom and the goodness of the Grand Artificer of 
the Universe”; that “Geometry, or Masonry, originally 
synonymous terms, being of a divine and moral nature, 
is enriched with the most useful knowledge”; that “while 
it proves the wonderful properties of nature, it demon¬ 
strates the more important truths of morality.” 

It cannot be denied that to the present generation and 
in our present state of learning. Geometry is nothing of 
the kind. To any one except a Freemason, and to the 
great majority of them, the idea that Geometry incal- 
culates nforal truth is utterly foreign and incompre¬ 
hensible. Those members of the Craft who have ever 
thought of the matter at all as a rule look upon these 
expressions as crude extravagances, as distorted attempts 
to attach a speculative meaning to a science or an art 
which had never properly borne any other than a prac¬ 
tical signification. We are not surprised, it is true, to 
find still incorporated in our system these inheritances 


126 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


of a past age and simply tolerate them as such without any 
serious attempt to ascertain their meaning or to measure 
their significance. 

While, as stated, Geometry does not at present enjoy 
any such an enviable distinction among the sciences as that 
claimed for it in our Masonic ritual, yet the time once 
was when it was precisely so regarded by the wisest of 
men on earth. 

What then is the significance of these ideas of a past age 
in our Masonic system? It seems to me to afford the 
strongest internal evidence of the great age of our Masonic 
ritual and symbolism. 

The seven liberal arts and sciences, as enumerated in 
the lodge, are not now to be understood literally, but rather 
as a symbol of what they once were in fact, namely, the 
entire domain of human knowledge and research. No one 
man is, of course, expected to cultivate the whole of this 
vast field, but this part of the ceremony of passing urges 
upon us the importance and the duty of constantly apply¬ 
ing our minds to the attainment of wisdom in some of its 
forms. We have no right to be idle. It is a sin against 
God, ourselves and society. Whatever others may be. 
Masons have no right to be idlers and loafers. It is our 
God-given privilege and our solemn duty to work, work, 
work, not because a night is coming when man^s work 
is done, but that we may be able to do better work and 
more work in that brighter day that all good Masons 
expect to see when this life has passed away. 

THE WAGES OF A FELLOW CRAFT 

In the Middle Chamber we are informed what the 
wages shall be to the faithful Craftsman who has ob- 

17^. Q. C., Vol. X, p. 82; “Freemason” (London), Vol. XLVIII, 
p. 417. 


THE FELLOW CRAFT DEGREE 


127 


served the moral and the divine law and wasted not his 
time in idleness or vice. We are told that they shall be 
corn, wine and oil. Such was literally true to our ancient 
operative brethren, as our old documents abundantly 
prove. With us, of course, they are not received in the 
realistic sense, but emblematically. From a remoteness 
of time when the memory of man runneth not to the con¬ 
trary, the spica, or ear of corn, has symbolised plenty; 
wine has symbolised health; and oil has symbolised peace. 

The faithful Fellow Craft is, therefore, assured that 
his wages, his reward, shall be plenty, not mere sufficiency 
but plenitude to supply all his physical, moral and spiritual 
wants; health of body, mind and soul; peace in this life, 
in the hour of death, and in the life to come. 

While we have by no means exhausted the subject this, 
my brethren, is briefly the meaning and purpose of the 
Fellow Craft Degree, and, if you do not already, we are 
sure that a little study and reflection will lead you to 
agree that in beauty and purity and loftiness of concep¬ 
tion this Degree is worthy to keep company with those 
splendid degrees of Entered Apprentice and Master 
Mason. 



PART THREE: THE MASTER MASON 
DEGREE 




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Part Three 

THE MASTER MASON DEGREE 

Many of the lessons of the Third Degree are obvious 
to the most superficial mind, but others (and these the 
most important) are grasped only after long and patient 
study. We shall not attempt anything original, but only 
lay before you in an imperfect way a few of the reflec¬ 
tions and conclusions of some of our most trustworthy 
Masonic scholars. 

We believe, as we have several times observed, that 
it is susceptible of the clearest proof that Freemasonry, 
viewed in the aggregate, is an elaborate allegory of human 
life, that the Three Degrees considered collectively, sym¬ 
bolically epitomise man’s existence both here and in the 
hereafter. 'Our excuse for recurring to this idea is that 
Speculative Masonry can not otherwise adequately be ex¬ 
plained. The lodge is emblematical of the world; initia¬ 
tion, of birth; the Entered Apprentice, of the preparatory 
stage of life, or youth; the Fellow Craft, of the con¬ 
structive stage, or manhood; the Master Mason, of the 
reflective stage, or old age, death, the resurrection, and 
the everlasting life. This explanation of the Three De¬ 
grees is briefly given in our lecture on the “Three Steps” 
delineated on the Master’s Carpet. Any symbol or any 
meaning attributed to a symbol which does not legitimately 
contribute to this allegory may be discarded as non- 
Masonic. 

THE ANTIQUITY OF MASONIC SYMBOLISM 

The age of our symbolism is an important question in 
this connection, because upon it to a great extent depend 
131 


132 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


the meanings that must be assigned to our symbols. 
While some of them may be of comparatively modern 
origin, many of them are older than the oldest written 
language. 

Says Brother Robert Freke Gould, one of the most 
cautious of our historians: 

'The symbolism of Masonry, or at all events a 
material part of it, is of very great antiquity, and in 
substance the system of Masonry we now possess, 
including the Three Degrees of the Craft, has come 
down to us in all its essentials from times remote to 
our own.’’ ^ 

Another of our historians of the most exacting school. 
Brother William James Hughan, declares that “symbol¬ 
ism in connection with Freemasonry antedates our oldest 
records.” 

Even this cautious statement would date our symbolism 
back more than five hundred years, and Brother Gould 
is on record as declaring that, if it can be put back that 
far, there is practically no limit backward to which its 
beginning must be assigned.^ 

Another distinguished Masonic scholar. Brother 
George William Speth, records his belief that “the greater 
part of our symbolism (including all essentials) is un¬ 
doubtedly mediaeval at least, and probably centuries older 
than that.” ® 

Still another. Brother William Simpson, distinguished 
as an orientalist, says: 

“The more important Masonic symbols are ancient 
and their true meanings can only be found by tracing 
them back into the past. This will be found to be 

^A. Q. C., Vol. Ill, p. 10. p. 24. 

p. 27. 


THE MASTER MASON DEGREE 


133 


particularly the case with the Third Degree; its true 
meaning can only be realised by the study of similar 
rites which appear to go far back into the history of 
our race.” ^ 

These are the opinions of men who, noted for their 
scholarship, have disregarded our Masonic traditions and 
studied the question from the purely historical viewpoint. 

Following them (and if they cannot be followed there 
are none who can be), our symbolism has come down to 
us from ancient times. 

Of some of these symbols we know a part at least of 
their meanings, but of some we know nothing at all. 
We get a hint from Brother Pike that much of our sym¬ 
bolism has been forgotten, and Brother Gould asserts the 
same and declares that “to a considerable portion of the 
symbolism of Freemasonry, even at this day, no meaning 
can be assigned which is entirely satisfactory to the intel¬ 
ligent mind.” ® 

Heckethorn, a non-Mason, says that many of the 
mystical figures and schemes of very ancient times are 
preserved in Masonry though their meaning is no longer 
understood by the Fraternity.® 

It should therefore be obvious that if we are ever to 
re-acquire this lost knowledge, we must have recourse to 
the records and institutions of ancient times. 

THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES 

Do we find any institutions in ancient times similar 
to our own and employing our symbols for like purposes ? 
We answer at once that we do. 

In all periods from the dawn of history till about the 
fifth century, A.D., there is recorded the existence in 

Q. C, Vol. Ill, p. 26. » Ibid., p. 23. 


134 . SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


nearly every known country of secret societies which, so 
far as our knowledge of them enables us to judge, were 
strikingly like Freemasonry in all except name. Our fore¬ 
most Masonic historian. Brother Gould, says that they 
taught precisely the same doctrines in precisely the same 
way. These ancient societies bearing different names in 
different countries, yet appearing everywhere to have been 
the same thing, are generically termed ‘‘The Ancient 
Mysteries.’' 

In Egypt they were known as the Mysteries of Osiris 
and Isis, and these appear to have been the model for all 
others. They prevailed in Egypt, India, Persia, Phoenicia, 
Greece, Rome, Gaul, Britain, and many other countries. 
The most ancient of these were certainly in existence as 
early as 3000 B.C., and some of them were still flourish¬ 
ing in Western Europe, in a corrupted state, it is true, as 
late as the fourth century of the Christian era. 

Notwithstanding their differences in name, it does not 
admit of a doubt that they were all substantially the 
same; “so much so,” it has been said by high Masonic 
authority, “that we may conclude either that they were 
all independent copies from a great original or that they 
were propagated one from another.” Brother Gould, 
than whom no more judicious historian has ever written 
on any subject, thinks they were only differentiated types 
of one original form of worship, the object of which was 
in every instance the God of Light and of Truth and of 
Beneficence. The Osiris of Egypt, the Brahma of India, 
the Mithras of Persia, the Bacchus (or Dionysius) of 
Greece, the Bel (or Baal) of the Chaldeans, the Belenus 
of Gaul, the Baldur of Scandinavia, the Adonis of Phoe¬ 
nicia, and the Adonai of the Jews were all the same god; 
each to his own people, was the Supreme One, the Creator, 
the Enlightener, Lord and Master. All the mysteries 
taught a more or less pure system of monotheism, though 


THE MASTER MASON DEGREE 


135 


coupled with the idea of a Trinity, or one God in three 
persons. Their Trinity differed from ours, however, in 
that they conceived it to be a male, female and offspring, 
or Father, Mother and Son. They taught also the doc¬ 
trine of the resurrection of the dead and the immortality 
of the soul.’’ 

Cicero tells us that in the Eleusinian Mysteries they 
were taught to live virtuously and happily and to die in 
the hope of a blessed futurity.® 

“The great, doctrine of immortality of the soul,'’ says 
Brother Gould, “and the teachings of the two lives, the 
present and the future, are to be found in the Ancient 
Mysteries, where precisely the same doctrines were taught 
in precisely the same way" that they are now taught by 
the Freemasons. 

It seems that among pagan people of ancient times a 
few superior minds and spirits were found who did not 
accept the idolatrous notions of the populace as an 
adequate conception of the Deity and who searched con¬ 
stantly in the great book of nature in the effort to find 
out and understand Him aright. To have openly pro¬ 
claimed their beliefs and their rejection of the popular 
gods and popular religion would have but called down 
upon themselves contempt and ridicule and doubtless per¬ 
secutions. They, therefore, chose to drift along with the 
common herd to all outward appearances, reserving the 
contemplation and discussion of their cherished beliefs 
for secret communication with those of kindred mind in 
societies where they were secure from observation and 
the interference of the outside world. Such seems to 
have been the occasion of the origin of these ancient 
fraternities. 

^ Gould, Concise History of Freemasonry, pp. 24, 25. 

® Mackey, Symbolism of Freemasonry, p. 36; Mackey, Encyclopedia 
of Freemasonry, p. 515. 


136 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


These societies were characterised by fixed forms of 
initiation, successive steps, or degrees, oaths of secrecy, a 
symbolical system of teaching, and the possession of 
emblems and perhaps of grips, signs and words of recogni¬ 
tion.® Their rites were usually celebrated at night in 
chambers securely guarded against intrusion and arranged 
similarly to our lodges, often with the three chief officers 
seated in the South, West and East. With all of them 
the East was an object of peculiar veneration as the source 
of light and knowledge. 

Initiation was an allegorical search for light and knowl¬ 
edge and consisted of prescribed physical and moral 
preparations of the candidate, lustrations, purifications 
and the administrations of oaths of secrecy; the ushering 
from darkness to light symbolising a transformation from 
ignorance to knowledge, from corruption to moral and 
spiritual purity; the investiture with an emblem of this 
purity consisting sometimes of a white apron, sometimes 
of a white sash or robe; the encountering of trials and 
dangers sometimes mock and sometimes real. In the 
Mithraic Mysteries the candidate was received into the 
place of initiation upon the point of a sword piercing his 
naked left breast. Many of their symbols were identical 
with those that can now be seen in any Masonic lodge. 

To each of the Ancient Mysteries pertained a char¬ 
acteristic legend, which was made the instrumentality of 
teaching with great impressiveness the doctrines of the 
resurrection and immortality. 

The legend of Osiris, probably the oldest and the model 
for all the others, was as follows: 

Osiris, meaning the soul of the Universe, the Gov¬ 
ernor of nature, was at once king and god of the 
Egyptians. The name appears as far back as 3000 

®Yarker, Arcane Schools, p. 113. 


THE MASTER MASON DEGREE 


137 

B.C. Having taught civilisation, the arts and agricul¬ 
ture to his own people, he magnanimously resolved 
to spread in person their benign influence throughout 
the world. Leaving his kingdom in charge of his 
wife, Isis, he departed upon his beneficent mission. 
After an absence of three years he returned, but 
meanwhile his brother Typhon had organised a con¬ 
spiracy to murder him and seize the throne. At a 
grand banquet given in honour of his return, Typhon 
provided a magnificent chest which exactly fitted the 
body of Osiris. All the other guests being in the con¬ 
spiracy, they feigned great admiration of the chest 
and finally Typhon announced that he would give it 
to the one whose body it would most neatly contain. 
Osiris, trying the box, was no sooner in it than the 
lid was clapped down and securely fastened and the 
whole thrown into the river Nile. It was borne out 
to sea by the current and in course of time was cast 
ashore at Byblos, in Phoenicia, at the foot of an 
acacia tree. The tree grew up rapidly and completely 
encased the chest containing the body of Osiris. 

No sooner had Isis learned of the fate of her hus¬ 
band than, weeping, she set out in search of his body 
and on her way interrogated every one she met for 
information concerning its whereabouts. Virgins 
accompanied her who dressed and combed her hair. 

She finally discovered the body in the acacia tree, 
but the king of that country, struck with the tree’s 
beauty caused it to be cut down and a column made 
of it for his palace. Isis thereupon engaged herself 
to the king as a nurse for his children and asked and 
received for her pay this column. The column was 
broken and the body released and at once borne back 
to Egypt, but before it could be properly interred 
it was again seized by Typhon and cut into four¬ 
teen pieces and these hidden in as many places. After 
long search Isis succeeded in finding and bringing 
together all the parts except the phallus, and the 


138 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 

body was embalmed and buried in due form. It will 
be borne in mind that according to ancient Egyptian 
ideas there could be no resurrection in the absence 
of the body; hence, the great care with which they 
embalmed their dead. As soon as the body of Osiris 
had been recovered and buried, it was announced that 
he had risen from the dead and had resumed his place 
among the gods. 

The ceremonies of initiation into the Egyptian Mys¬ 
teries dramatically represented the death of Osiris, the 
search for his body, its discovery in the acacia tree, and 
its burial and resurrection, the murdered god being per¬ 
sonated by the candidate. 

Pertaining to each of the mysteries was a counter¬ 
part of this legend. In Greece, Osiris became Bacchus 
(not the drunken Bacchus of later ages), who is slain 
by the Titans and his limbs torn asunder. Isis becomes 
Rhea, who after long and bitter search finds and inters 
his body, and in due course he takes his place among the 
gods. In the Dionysian Mysteries celebrated in his hon¬ 
our an effigy was stretched upon a couch, as if dead, 
while his votaries bitterly bewailed his decease. After a 
proper time the figure was quickly removed and the an¬ 
nouncement made that the god had risen from the dead. 
Likewise in some of the Mysteries of India the candidate 
underwent an allegorical death, burial and resurrection. 
Those celebrated in Phoenicia during the time of Solomon, 
King of Israel, Hiram, King of Tyre and Hiram Abif 
were obvious copies of those of Egypt. Adonis and 
Venus became substitutes in the legend for Osiris and Isis. 
During the course of these Mysteries, with which our 
three ancient Grand Masters must have been familiar, an 
image was laid upon a bier as if it were a dead body. 
During a momentary darkness the figure was invisibly 
removed, after which it was announced that the god had 


THE MASTER MASON DEGREE 


1 S 9 


risen from the dead. The substantial identity with each 
other of all these Mysteries and doctrines they were in¬ 
tended to inculcate is obvious. 

It is claimed by students of ancient mythology, that 
this legend of the Mysteries and the ceremonies based on 
it were all prophetic of the coming of a Messiah, who 
should triumph over death and the grave, and thereby 
demonstrate to mankind for a certainty that there is a life 
after death. That this was common belief, not merely 
among the Jews, but the Egyptians, Phoenicians, As¬ 
syrians, Babylonians, Persians, Chaldeans, Hindus, Greeks 
and Romans is now generally conceded. 

The teachings of the Mysteries have been thus 
summarised: 

“They diifused a spirit of unity and humanity; 
purified the soul from ignorance and pollution; se¬ 
cured the peculiar aid of the gods; the means of 
arriving at the perfection of virtue; the serene happi¬ 
ness of a holy life; the hope of a peaceful death and 
endless felicity in the Elysian fields; whilst those not 
initiated therein should dwell after death in places of 
darkness and horror.’’ 

Thus did these ancient societies seek by means of the 
dramatic presentation of a legend to teach the great 
Masonic doctrines of the resurrection and the life after 
death. 

There were lectures explanatory of the Mysteries, but 
the crowning ceremony of initiation was the communica¬ 
tion to the candidate of an ineffable name which it was 
lawful to speak only on certain occasions and in a certain 
manner. Among the Egyptians, Persians and Hindus, 
notwithstanding their wide separation, this was the mys¬ 
terious AUM, pronounced OM. We have purposely 
mingled things dissimilar with things similar to Free- 


140 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


masonry, but the intelligent Master Mason will be able 
to detect the points of resemblance. 

Brother Robert Freke Gould, whom we have already 
several times quoted, without venturing to pronounce 
Freemasonry and the Ancient Mysteries identical, saysj 

‘Tt is a well known fact that these Mysteries offer 
striking analogies with much that is found in Free¬ 
masonry; their celebration in grottoes or covered 
halls, which symbolised the Universe, and which in 
disposition and decoration presented a distinct coun¬ 
terpart to our lodge; their division into degrees con¬ 
ferred by the initiatory rites wonderfully like our 
own; their method of teaching through the same 
astronomic symbolism the highest truths then known 
in Philosophy and Morals; their mystic bond of 
secrecy, toleration, equality and brotherly love.” 

He intimates strongly his belief that Freemasonry is a 
development out of the Mysteries of Mithras, which, 
originating in Persia, spread to Greece, Rome and West¬ 
ern Europe and lingered there until the fourth or fifth 
century, A.D., and for a long time was a formidable 
rival of Christianity. 

Enough has been said on this point to make it plain 
that any one who would understand our Masonic sym¬ 
bolism must at least make a study of what these same 
symbols meant to these ancient societies. 

THIRD DEGREE SYMBOLS 

We shall not lengthen this chapter and tax your patience 
by repeating explanations laid down in our Monitors and 
lectures. We shall for the most part confine ourselves to 
things that are not explained at all, or that are explained 
inadequately. 


THE MASTER MASON DEGREE 


141 


Many of the symbols of the Master Mason Degree are 
common to the preceding degrees and these we shall touch 
upon very briefly. There is, however, discoverable in 
their use, as the degrees progress, an increasing serious¬ 
ness and depth of meaning. 

For instance, in the first two degrees, the lodge sym¬ 
bolises the world, the place where all workmen labour at 
useful avocations and in the acquisition of human knowl¬ 
edge and virtue. But in the Master’s Degree it repre¬ 
sents the Sanctum Sanctorum, or Holy of Holies of King 
Solomon’s Temple, which was itself a symbol of Heaven, 
or the abode of Deity. It was there that nothing earthly 
or unclean was allowed to enter; it was there that the 
visible presence of the Deity was said to dwell between the 
Cherubim. In the Master’s lodge, therefore, we are sym¬ 
bolically brought into the awful presence of the Deity. 
The reference here to death and the future life is obvious 
and is a further evidence that this degree typifies old age 
and death. 

But there is even a deeper symbolism in the Master’s 
lodge. The allusion is not only to the sacred chamber of 
Solomon’s physical temple, it alludes also to the sacred 
chamber of that spiritual temple we all are, or should be, 
namely, a pure heart, and admonishes us to make of it a 
place fit for Deity himself to dwell. 

The likening of the human body to a temple of the 
Deity is an ancient metaphor. Jesus said, in speaking of 
the temple of his body, ‘‘Destroy this temple and in three 
days I will raise it up.” Again, Paul says, “Know ye not 
that ye are a temple of God, and that the spirit of God 
dwelleth in you? If any man destroyeth the temple of 
God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is 
holy, and such are ye.” We quote these passages not as a 
Christian doctrine, but as a beautiful expression of Jewish 
thought far older than Christianity. We can with difii- 


142 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


culty conceive the extreme sacredness of the Temple in 
the eyes of the Jew. It far exceeded the veneration with 
which we now regard our churches and synagogues. This 
idea once comprehended shows how greatly this figure of 
speech ennobles the human body. It declares it a fit 
dwelling place for Deity himself. 

In the Entered Apprentice and Fellow Craft Degrees, 
Light typifies the acquisition of human knowledge and 
virtue; in the Master Mason Degree it typifies the revela¬ 
tion of divine truth in the life that is to come. 

In the first two degrees the Square and Compasses 
denote the earth and inculcate and impress upon us the 
desirability of curbing our passion; in the Third Degree 
the Compasses symbolise what is heavenly, because to our 
ancient brethren the visible heavens bore the aspect of 
circles and arches, geometrical figures produced with the 
Compasses. 

In some of the Monitors we are told that *‘the Com¬ 
passes are peculiarly consecrated to this degree,’’ but the 
reasons there given are not satisfying. In ancient sym¬ 
bolism the square signified the earth, while the circle, a 
figure produced with the Compasses, signified the sun or 
the heavens. The Square therefore symbolised what is 
earthly and material while the Compasses signified the 
heavenly and the spiritual. It is not without significance, 
therefore, that in the Entered Apprentice Degree, both 
points of the Compasses are beneath the Square, that in 
the Fellow Craft Degree one point is above the Square, 
while in the Master Mason Degree both points are above, 
signifying that in the true Master, the spiritual has 
obtained full mastery and control over the earthly and 
the material.^® 

10 Pike, Morals and Dogma, pp. 850, 854. 


THE MASTER MASON DEGREE 


US 


DISCALCEATION 

Discalceation, or the plucking off of one’s shoes, was 
in the Entered Apprentice Degree, as we there learned, a 
symbol of fidelity to our fellow man. In this degree, 
however, it alludes to an ancient act of homage paid by 
man to Deity, namely, the Eastern custom that prevailed 
among both Jews and Gentiles of entering only barefooted 
into any sacred place or upon any holy ground. In the 
one case, this practice was a testimony of man to man; 
in the other, it is a testimony of man to his Creator. 

Pythagoras taught his disciples in these words, “Offer 
sacrifice and worship with thy shoes off.” Adam Clarke 
includes the universality of this custom among his thirteen 
proofs that all mankind has descended from common 
ancestors. A Master Mason’s lodge represents, as we 
have seen, the Holy of Holies of Solomon’s Temple into 
which the High Priest alone entered only once yearly, 
and then with bare feet. The lodge in some of the old 
rituals is said to stand on holy ground. God said to Moses 
at the burning bush: “Put off thy shoes from thy feet, 
for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” 

Note also the deeper significance of the shock of recep¬ 
tion as the degrees progress. In the first, the appeal is 
to the sense of fear, in other words, purely physical. In 
the second, appeal is made to the moral sense and inculcates 
fair dealing with men, but in the third it is not merely 
to our sense of justice towards our fellow man, but to 
our brotherly love for him and to those higher reflective 
elements of our nature whose proverbial seat is the breast. 

It is a mistake to limit the “Brotherly Love” of this 
degree to members of the Masonic Fraternity. If the 
lodge symbolises the world, as it undoubtedly does, so 
should its members symbolise all the inhabitants thereof. 

Mackey, Symbolism of Freemasonry, p. 125. 


144 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 

The love that should prevail among the members of the 
lodge, therefore typifies the love that should prevail 
among all mankind. In the highest sense all men are 
our brothers precisely as we are so strikingly taught in 
the parable of the Good Samaritan that all men are our 
neighbours. 

CIRCUMAMBULATION 

Circumambulation, from the Latin word circumamhu- 
lare, to walk around, is a very ancient rite, one common 
to all the Ancient Mysteries. The sun, the fructifier and 
giver of life, in his daily course across the heavens, ap¬ 
pears to those living in the Northern Hemisphere, where 
the ancient world dwelt, to proceed from the East by the 
way of the South to the West, and thence through the 
darkness of the night via the North back to the East 
again. Vegetation was seen to spring up, animal life to 
be aroused from slumber and take on increased energy, as 
the King of Day moved with dignity across the heavens. 
To the untutored mind of primeval man it is not strange 
that the sun should appear to be the giver of life, the very 
Creator himself. His apparent course, therefore, from 
East through the South to the West and back to the East 
by way of the North became the “course of life,’’ as the 
ancients expressed it. 

The ancients in their ceremonies when representing 
life pursued this course, and we Masons follow their ex¬ 
ample. To proceed in the reverse direction typified death, 
and as every Master Mason knows at one important point 
in our ceremonies we take this reverse course. At the 
grave of a deceased brother, however, contrary to what 
might be expected, we still follow the course of life as a 
token of our belief in the life that follows death.^^ 

^2 Oliver, Signs and Symbols, p. lo; Transactions, Lodge of Re¬ 
search, Leicester, 1909-10, p. 42. 


THE MASTER MASON DEGREE 


145 


THE WORKING TOOLS 

With US in America the especial working tool of a 
Master Mason is said to be the Trowel. In England, this 
symbol is almost obsolete, and there the Skirret, Pencil 
and Compasses are employed. 

Of the Trowel, Dr. George Oliver, a noted but some¬ 
what discredited Masonic authority, says: 

‘The triangle, now called the Trowel, was an em¬ 
blem of very extensive application and was much 
revered by ancient nations as containing the greatest 
and most abstruse mysteries; that it signified equally 
Deity, Creation and Fire.’’ 

We will learn directly something more of the sym¬ 
bolical signification of the triangle. 

The Skirret, the Pencil and the Compasses are not 
enumerated in America among the working tools of a 
Master Mason. The Skirret is an instrument working 
on a centre pin and used by the operative Mason to mark 
out on the ground the foundation of the intended struc¬ 
ture. The Pencil is employed in drafting the plans and 
the Compasses in determining the limit and proportions 
of its several parts. Symbolically they are explained in 
English (Emulation Working) in the following words: 

“The Skirret points out to us that straight and 
undeviating line of conduct laid down for our guid¬ 
ance in the volume of the sacred law. The Pencil 
teaches us that all our words and actions are not only 
observed, but are recorded by the Most High, to 
whom we must render an account of our conduct 
through life. The Compasses remind us of his un¬ 
erring and impartial justice, which, having defined 
for our instruction the limits of good and evil, will 


146 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


either reward or punish us, as we have obeyed or 
disregarded His divine commands/' 

We must admit that the Trowel would seem properly 
to belong to the Fellow Craft, who in operative Masonry 
puts the stones in place, rather than to the designer and 
overseer who corresponds to our Master Mason. 

Brother John Yarker in his Arcane Schools says that 
the Skirret as a hieroglyphic signifies the origin of 
things (Pp. 33, 220). 

BROACHED THURNEL 

In English working, we hear of another working-tool, 
but the strange part of it is that neither our English 
brethren nor we know what it is or rather was. We refer 
to the so-called “Broached Thurnel." Of it Brother 
George William Speth, a most learned Mason, says: 

“It was never understood by Grand Lodge Masons; 
the various and contradictory uses ascribed to it at 
one and the same time prove this. It was dropped in 
1814 because probably utterly meaningless to the 
Masons of those days; they dared not even attempt 
to explain it, however lamely. Nay, more. There 
are architects here present. Can any one even de¬ 
scribe what it was ? It was an appliance evidently of 
use in a Mason's stone yard or lodge; but what was 
it?" 

When an authority like Speth can not even hazard a 
guess, it is useless for us to speculate. Maybe the secret 
will some day be rediscovered. 


13 Akin’s Manual (1908), p. 80. 


THE MASTER MASON DEGREE 


147 


DEITY AND IMMORTALITY 

There are a few who feign that they believe nothing 
that cannot be experienced through the five senses of 
the body. Wonderful as are these faculties, we are per¬ 
suaded that we are possessed of a sixth sense which is 
higher and finer even than those of the body. By this 
sense we perceive though we see not; we feel though we 
touch not; we understand though we hear not; we know 
though we neither taste nor smell. By it, also, we are 
aware of all the higher aspirations of the mind and soul; 
by it alone are we conscious of our own existence. See¬ 
ing is not thinking. Nor is hearing, or feeling, or tast¬ 
ing, or smelling. These five senses are but ministers to 
this sixth sense. The five senses of human nature we 
were concerned with in a former degree, but we are here 
concerned with something far superior to them, what¬ 
ever we call it, whether consciousness, faith, mind, soul or 
spirit. Are the testimonies of this sixth sense any less 
real or any less reliable than those of the five senses of 
the body? By it mankind has always, in every age and 
in every condition, felt intuitively that there was a God 
and that we shall live again. These beliefs are so strong 
and so ever present with us that we never doubt them 
until we begin to argue about them. 

There is nothing in Masonry so constantly pressed upon 
our thoughts as these two great doctrines. Signs, sym¬ 
bols, and legends are all repeatedly employed to emphasise 
them. 

In the Master Mason’s Degree, the Pot of Incense, 
the All-Seeing Eye, the Three Grand Masters, the Tri¬ 
angle, and the legends of the Temple and of Hiram Abif 
are all employed for this purpose, as we shall attempt to 
show. 

A reading of history shows that men in different ages 


148 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


and in different countries have conceived God in different 
likenesses and with differing attributes, ranging from the 
most repulsive brute forms and impulses to the highest 
conceptions of form and attributes of which the human 
mind has ever been capable. It is, of course, not sup- 
posable that they all knew God and that he has thus 
changed according to time and country. God is neces¬ 
sarily the same to-day that he was, always has been and 
always will be, eternal and unchanging. Otherwise God 
is a myth. If man’s conceptions of him change, it is 
because we for the time being know less or more of him. 

We read with incredulity that men could ever bow down 
to and worship idols. Doubtless the thoughtful and intel¬ 
ligent ones have never done so even in pagan countries. 
They looked beyond and viewed the idol as merely a sym¬ 
bol. 

This thought is thus finely expressed by Albert Pike 
in one of the Scottish Rite Degrees: 


‘^The Divine light which lighteth every man that 
cometh into the world has not been altogether want¬ 
ing to the devout of any creed. The permanent reve¬ 
lation, one and universal, is written in visible nature, 
is explained by Reason, and completed by the wise 
analogies of Faith. And there is but one True Re¬ 
ligion, but one legitimate doctrine and creed, as there 
is but one God, one Reason, one Universe. That 
revelation is obscure for no one, since every person 
in the world more or less comprehends Truth and 
Justice. Especially recollect that the Myth of 
Genesis is an eternal truth; and that God allows none 
to approach the Tree of Knowledge, except those 
who are abstinent enough and strong enough not to 
lust after its fruits. Faith has in all ages been the 
lever whereby to move the world. Yet faith is but 
superstition and folly if it has not Reason for its 


THE MASTER MASON DEGREE 


149 


basis; and we can suppose that which we do not know 
only by analogy with the known. To define what we 
know not is presumptuous ignorance; to affirm 
positively what we know not is to lie.’' 

As the idol among pagan people usually assumed a 
human form, the Jews, as well as other believers in 
monotheism of ancient times, forbade the employment of 
the human effigy as a symbol of Deity. To supply the 
need so keenly felt by the ancients of a symbol to repre¬ 
sent every idea, conventional figures such as squares, 
circles, triangles, etc., were adopted by the ancient mono¬ 
theists to symbolise the Deity. Thus perhaps it is that the 
being which alone is said to have been made in the image 
of his Creator is nowhere employed in our symbolism to 
represent the G. A. O. T. U. 

THE HIRAMIC LEGEND 

The most important series of symbols in Freemasonry 
is the legend concerning Hiram Abif and the other 
symbolic allusions connected therewith. For obvious 
reasons, we do not attempt to narrate the story of this 
legend. Nor shall we undertake to make any systematic 
or exhaustive study of it, but only to discuss in a discon¬ 
nected way those symbols associated with it that are most 
important or whose meaning is least obvious. 

As we have already seen, the Ancient Mysteries em¬ 
ployed a legend dramatically presented to teach the great 
doctrines of the existence of Deity, the resurrection of the 
body, and the immortality of the soul. Among Free¬ 
masons, the legend of Hiram, the builder, is employed in 
a strikingly similar way to teach the same truths. It is 
not permissible, even if it were necessary, to enter further 
into details in order to demonstrate this parallel, but the 


150 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


points of resemblance will be sufficiently obvious to the 
intelligent Mason. 

A few observations upon the name Hiram Abif will 
not be out of place. Abif is certainly not a surname as 
our use of it would seem to indicate. It is translated in 
the English Bibles '‘Hiram, my father’s” and "Hiram, his 
father.” This scarcely makes sense; and hence the gen¬ 
eral consensus of opinion among Masonic scholars is 
that "Abif” is a Hebrew idiom indicating superiority in 
his Craft and may therefore, in a general sense, be said 
to be synonymous with "Master.” 

The name "Hiram” itself has been supposed by many 
to bear a symbolic meaning. In Kings it is written 
"Hiram” but in Chronicles it is written "Huram.” 
Brother Albert Pike contends that the proper form 
is "Khirum” or "Khurum.” The former Khirum is 
from the Hebrew word "Khi” meaning "living,” and 
"ram” meaning "was or shall be raised oi* lifted up.” 
Hence Khirum means "was raised or lifted up to life.” 
The other form, Khurum, means nearly the same, "raised 
up noble or free.” Brother Pike shows this name to be 
synonymous with the Egyptian Her-ra, and the Phoenician 
Heracles, the personification of Light and the sun, the 
Mediator, the Redeemer and the Saviour.^® 

But do not be misled into supposing that the reference 
is here Christian. The idea of a Mediator, Redeemer or 
Saviour is far older than Christianity and by no means 
confined to the Jews. It is a concept that seems to have 
been almost universal in the ancient world. 

Again, it is said that Hiram, in its pure and original 
form, literally meant light or the sun. His murder by 
the three ruffians is by many scholars believed to have 

Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, p. 3 ; Pike, Morals and 
Dogma, p. 81 . 

Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. 78 . 


THE MASTER MASON DEGREE 


151 


symbolic reference to the declension of the sun towards 
the South during the three winter months with its accom¬ 
panying temporary death of many forms of vegetable and 
animal life; the discovery and raising of his body, to the 
return of spring with its manifestations of newness of 
life in its thousands of forms. There is no doubt that 
this astronomical phenomenon, so typical of both death 
and a new life, was extensively employed by the ancients 
to teach the doctrines of resurrection and immortality. 

Those who attach an astronomical signification, to this 
legend of Hiram Abif believe the fifteen Fellow Craft to 
be a faulty symbol; that the true number is twelve, cor¬ 
responding to the twelve signs of the Zodiac through 
which the sun apparently passes every year; that the num¬ 
ber of those who conspired and the number who recanted 
have been confused; that nine, typifying those who re¬ 
canted, fill the spring, summer and autumn with their 
seasons of planting, growth and harvest, while the three 
who persisted typify winter, when all nature, if not dead, 
appears to be dormant. It has been pointed out as cor¬ 
roborating this interpretation of this legend that our two 
festival seasons, June 24th and December 27th, the birth¬ 
days respectively of John the Baptist and John the Evan¬ 
gelist, very nearly coincide respectively with the summer 
and winter solstices; that is to say, when the sun is at its 
greatest intensity, and, when in the dead of winter, having 
reached his furthermost limit to the South, he begins 
his fructifying and vivifying journey towards the North 
again. 

We can but touch upon this abstruse symbolism, and 
invite the serious student of Freemasonry to its study. 
It can not be covered in an evening; volumes have been 
and may still be written upon the subject without exhaust¬ 
ing it^® 

Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. 78 . 


152 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


In nearly all the ancient systems of religion, Deity was 
regarded as a triad, or trinity, by whom, acting conjointly 
only, could anything be done that was done. Our own 
doctrine of the Trinity is but a mere spiritualised modifi¬ 
cation of this ancient trinitarian conception. The secrets 
known only to our Three Grand Masters typify divine 
truth known only to this trinitarian Deity, and which is 
not to be communicated and made known to man, the 
Fellow Craft, the workman, until he has completed his 
spiritual temple. Then, according to divine promise, if 
found worthy, if this temple be nobly and worthily built 
and made a fit dwelling place for divine truth, these secrets 
will be communicated to him. He can then travel into 
that foreign country whither we all are bound and there 
obtain the wages of the master, that is to say, the reward 
of a righteous and well spent life. But he who would 
force or steal this knowledge or obtain it other than by 
faithful labour and effort to prepare himself for its under¬ 
standing and enjoyment is no better than a murderer and 
robber. It is the same allegory as that of Adam eating 
of the tree of knowledge. For a like offence, stealing 
the sacred fire of the gods and bestowing it upon man, 
was Prometheus bound to the rock, his body torn open 
and his liver fed upon by the vultures of the air. 

The age of the Hiramic legend in our symbolism is an 
interesting and important question, but we have not space 
to deal with it here. Brother Gould says “that we may 
safely conclude that the distinctive legend of the Cam- 
pagnonnage concerning Hiram the Builder is of prior 
date to the introduction of modern Freemasonry in 
France, that is prior to A.D. 1726 (Gould II, p. 243). 
If this be true then this legend did not originate in Eng¬ 
land as some have contended. And this historical question 
affects vitally its allegorical signification. 


THE MASTER MASON DEGREE 


153 


THE THREE RUFFIANS 

One having the least familiarity with the religions of 
the East cannot fail to recognise in the names of the three 
ruffians the names of the gods of Palestine, Phoenicia and 
Egypt, Jah, Bel and Om, spelled AUM. This will be 
even more striking to the Royal Arch and the Scottish 
Rite Mason.^^ 

The symbolism of the ‘‘three ruffians’’ has been 
variously explained. They have been declared to repre¬ 
sent the three greatest enemies of individual and political 
liberty, viz., kingcraft, priestcraft and ignorance. The 
three conspired to destroy liberty; one attempted this by 
a blow at the throat, the seat of free speech; the second 
attempted it by a stab at the heart, the seat of freedom 
of conscience; the third accomplished the foul conspiracy 
by felling his victim dead with a blow upon the brain, the 
seat of freedom of thought. The lesson is, suffer free¬ 
dom of thought, freedom of conscience and freedom of 
speech to be destroyed by kingcraft, priestcraft or igno¬ 
rance, or by all combined (for they usually work hand 
in hand), and individual and political liberty is lost. 

No tyrant or priest can reduce this nation of ours to 
subjection until our people have been drowned in igno¬ 
rance. That tyrants and priests have by this method 
sought to maintain themselves in all ages can not be denied. 
The few brilliant exceptions afforded by history do not 
disprove the rule. It is just as certain that this same 
effort is going on to-day as that it was ever made. 
Churches (and you will note we use the plural) and 
tyrannical kings and so-called emperors would to-day de¬ 
liberately put bonds of ignorance on their people in order 
that they might more easily control them. 

When we speak of ignorance we do not mean mere 
Pike, Morals and Dogma, pp. 8o, 82, 448, 488. 


154 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


want of knowledge; we refer also to that mental state in 
which men refuse to reason, in which they refuse to 
recognise their own power, in which from laziness or 
from fear they refuse to do what they know they can and 
should do. It is this enlightened knowledge and the God- 
given power which goes with it that will alone enable 
liberty-loving men successfully to combat tyrants whether 
they come in the guise of kings, priests or Bolshevists. 

LOW TWELVE 

In ancient symbolism, the number twelve denoted com¬ 
pletion. Whether this meaning arose from the fact that 
twelve months completed the year, or twelve signs the 
Zodiac, or whether from the fact that what was regarded 
as the most stable geometrical figure known, the cube, is 
marked by twelve edges, opinions differ. At any rate, it 
denoted a thing fulfilled. It was therefore an emblem of 
human life. Death followed immediately after life; the 
number thirteen immediately after twelve; it is for this 
reason that thirteen has long been regarded as an unlucky 
number. With us the solemn stroke of twelve marks the 
completion of human existence in this life. 

THE LION OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH 

The lion from most ancient times has been a symbol 
of might or royalty. It was blazoned upon the standard 
of the tribe of Judah, because it was the royal tribe. The 
kings of Judah were, therefore, each called Lion of the 
Tribe of Judah, and such was one of the titles of Solo¬ 
mon. Remembrance of this fact gives appropriateness to 
an expression employed at one point in our ceremonies 
which is otherwise obscure, not to say absurd. Such is 
the literal meaning of this phrase, but it also has a sym¬ 
bolical one. 


THE MASTER MASON DEGREE 


155 


The Jewish idea of a Messiah was of a mighty tem¬ 
poral king. He was also designated as the Lion of the 
Tribe of Judah; in fact this title was regarded as peculiarly 
belonging to him. The expression does not, as many 
Masons suppose, necessarily have reference to Jesus of 
Nazareth. The Christian Mason is privileged so to in¬ 
terpret it, if he likes, but the Jew has equal right to under¬ 
stand it as meaning his Messiah. Indeed, every great 
religion of the world has contained the conception in some 
form of a Mediator between God and man, a Redeemer 
who would raise mankind from the death of this life and 
the grave to an everlasting existence with God hereafter. 
The Mason who is a devotee of one of these religions, say, 
Buddhism, Brahmanism or Mohammedanism, is likewise 
entitled to construe this expression as referring to his 
own Mediator. 

In an ancient Egyptian picture is depicted a lion seiz¬ 
ing by the wrist a man lying in front of an altar, prostrate 
upon his back as if dead. The lion seems to be raising 
the man up and to symbolise that power by which the 
dead are brought to newness of life. Near the altar 
stands a man with his left arm elevated in the form of a 
square.^® 


FIVE POINTS OF FELLOWSHIP 

Ancient builders were accustomed to lay out their build¬ 
ings from the centre. That is to say, the first located the 
centre, then by use of the 3, 4, triangle, which was well 
understood, the four corners of the intended structure 
were located by measurements from the centre. This gave 
them five points upon which and with regard to which 

Pike, Morals and Dogma, pp. 79, 254, 461; Portal, Comparison 
of Egyptian Symbols with Those of the Hebrews (Vol. XXX, “Uni¬ 
versal Masonic Library”), p. 40. 


156 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


the building was raised. Symbolising this, as we have 
so many other of the customs and tools of operative Ma¬ 
sons, we speculative Masons say that a Mason is raised 
on the Five Points of Fellowship. 

The Five Points of Fellowship are symbolised by the 
Pentalpha, or five-pointed star. The connection of this 
geometrical figure with the art of building is not at once 
apparent, but recent researches show that it entered exten¬ 
sively into determining the plans of many of the splendid 
castles and cathedrals of mediaeval times. To this fact 
is probably due its introduction or retention among the 
symbols of our Speculative Craft.^® 

This figure has, however, from very ancient times borne 
a moral signification also. Says a recent writer: 

‘Tn the more esoteric philosophy, the symbol is 
used to designate man, and an examination of the 
shape of the figure will show that by a stretch of 
imagination it may be construed into a crude repre¬ 
sentation of a human figure.” 

In this connection it is interesting to note that there 
exists in England a secret gild of operative Masons who 
have a ceremony wherein is represented the mock-assas¬ 
sination of one of its three Grand Masters. His body is 
said to be raised and borne out of the hall on the five 
points of fellowship in this wise—each of four seizing 
an arm or foot and a fifth under the middle of the body. 

The Pentalpha with one of its points elevated, was a 
symbol of the pure and the virtuous and a harbinger of 
good, but with two of its points elevated it became the 
accursed Goat of Mendes, which typified Satan and fore¬ 
boded evil and misfortune.®^ 

Yarker, Arcane Schools, pp. ii8, 119. 

20 “Tyler Keystone,” Oct. 5, 1909, p. 151. 

Q. C., Vol. I, pp. 31, 57; Ibid., Vol. VIII, pp. 90, 105; Ashe, 
Masonic Manual, Argument IX. 


THE MASTER MASON DEGREE 


157 


In England, the Five Points of Fellowship are h. to h., 
f. to f., k. to k., b. to b. and h. over b.^^ It is well known 
that in the United States we substituted m. to e. for h. to 
h. Mackey thinks this change was made at the Baltimore 
Conference of Grand Lecturers in 1843, and we are 
persuaded that the English working is the ancient and 
correct one. 

The winged foot has for ages been the symbol of swift¬ 
ness, the arm of strength, and the hand of fidelity. In 
the centre of the Pentalpha as employed by us is usually 
seen two hands clasped. This as we learned in the Entered 
Apprentice Degree is the ancient symbol of the god 
Fides.^^ It is an appropriate emblem of the fidelity and 
readiness to aid each other, which should characterise 
members of the Masonic Fraternity. Let it not be sup¬ 
posed that by assigning symbolical meanings to the per¬ 
sons and incidents of the legend of Hiram Abif, we 
thereby mean to deny its reality. We see no reason (and 
such seems to be the opinion of most students of Free¬ 
masonry) why this legend may not be based upon a sub¬ 
stratum of fact, as probably were those similar legends 
which characterised the Ancient Mysteries and those 
which are associated with the erection of other famous 
buildings. That it has undergone many alterations and 
been greatly overlaid with fiction is certain, but that it is 
founded wholly upon fable is not at all probable. 

THE LOST WORD 

We next come to consider one of the most abstruse con¬ 
ceptions in Freemasonry. The allegory of a search for a 
Lost Word is not a search for any particular word; in 

22 “Lectures of the Three Degrees,” etc. (Lewis, 1896), pp. iii, 
112. 

23 Mackey, Symbolism of Freemasonry, p. 190; Pike, Morals and 
Dogma, p. 88. 


158 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


fact it is not even a search for a word at all. The ex¬ 
pression “The Word” had significance to the Jews and 
other ancient races which is hard for us to comprehend. 
While not strictly accurate we shall not be far wrong in 
saying that to the ancient mind “The Word” signified all 
truth, particularly divine truth. To us the most striking 
and familiar passage in literature containing this expres¬ 
sion is that in St. John, as follows : 

“In the beginning was the Word, 

And the Word was with God, 

And the Word was God.” 

John does not here announce any new doctrine, but 
one that was perfectly familiar to the Jewish thought of 
his day; only his identification of Jesus of Nazareth with 
the Word was new. Nor was this expression or this idea 
by any means confined to the Jews; it belonged to nearly 
all ancient philosophy. Among the Greeks it was the 
Logos, a term derived from the Greek verb lego, to 
speak; the same root from which comes our word logic, 
the name of that science by which we determine moral 
truth. 

That noble attribute of man, the power of articulate 
speech, whereby his wisdom and his most abstract 
thoughts are made known to his fellows, a power so far 
as we can see possessed by no other animal, must have 
in all ages greatly impressed the thoughtful mind. The 
spoken word seemed an instrument worthy to be em¬ 
ployed by Deity himself, not only in promulgating divine 
truth but even in creating all things that were created. 
According to the ancient idea. Deity was so omnipotent 
that he had but to speak and the thing was done; he said 
“Let there be light” and there was light; and that with¬ 
out “The Word” was not anything made that was made. 


THE MASTER MASON DEGREE 


159 


Hence “The Word’’ under the development of philoso¬ 
phy, particularly that of Philo Judaeus, a contemporary of 
Jesus, became synonymous with every manifestation of 
divine power and truth, so that finally it was regarded as 
not only co-existent with but metaphorically as identical 
with Deity himself. This is clearly the meaning of St. 
John. 

The Masonic search for “The Word,” therefore, sym¬ 
bolises the search for truth, particularly divine truth. The 
lesson here to us is to search diligently for the truth, 
never to permit prejudice, passion or interest to blind us, 
but to keep our minds always open to the reception of 
truth from whatever source, or however opposed to our 
preconceived notions it may be; and having seen it and 
received it, always to act agreeably to its dictates. Hence 
Masons everywhere are devoted to the doctrines of free¬ 
dom of thought, freedom of speech and freedom of 
action. 

But we are also cautioned not vaingloriously to imagine 
that we ever here achieve all truth. The Master Mason is 
invested not with the True Word, but with a Substitute 
Word, implying that in this life we may know only in 
part, that we may approach, we may approximate truth, 
but that we never attain it in its perfection. This search 
will continue as long as this life lasts, but not until we 
shall have passed on to a higher state of existence will 
divine truth be disclosed to us in all its fulness and beauty. 
We may say here that this final disclosure is symbolised in 
the Royal Arch Degree. 

The preservation of this extremely ancient conception 
of “The Word” is not without historic value also as indi¬ 
cating the great antiquity of Masonic Symbolism.^^ 

24 Pike, Morals and Dogma, pp. 204, 251, 254, 256, 259, 268, 269, 
270, 27g, 281; Edersheim, Life of Jesus, pp. 46, 56; Mackey, Sym^ 
holism of Freemasonry, pp. 176, 216, 224, 226, 232,280, 298, 300. 


160 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


THE MARBLE MONUMENT 

Incidental to this legend of Hiram Abif are introduced 
certain other symbols. For example, the virgin weep¬ 
ing over the broken column, an urn in her left hand and 
a sprig of evergreen in her right, and an old man be¬ 
hind her dressing her hair. Masons are familiar with 
the explanation of this group given in our ritual, but 
we are persuaded that it is very superficial to say the 
least. 

In the Egyptian Mysteries, as we have seen, Isis finds 
her husband’s body encased in a tamarisk or acacia tree, 
which the King of Byblos converts into a column. This 
column, still containing the body, is finally carried away 
and broken by Isis and the body released. We can readily 
imagine her weeping over this broken column. Apuleius 
(second century, A.D.) describes her as a “beautiful 
female, over whose divine neck her long thick hair hung 
in graceful ringlets,” and in a procession depicting her 
are shown female attendants following who are combing 
and dressing her hair. 

The urn is an ancient sign of mourning. A small urn 
in which figuratively to catch the tears was worn by the 
mourners, especially widows. This explanation of the 
presence of the urn in this emblem, as a symbol of grief, 
better accords with our tradition as to the disposal of our 
Grand Master, as well as with history, than does that 
given in our Master’s lecture. We know that it was a 
well-nigh universal custom of the Jews as well as the 
Egyptians to bury and not to cremate their dead. Like¬ 
wise from ancient times it was common for the mourner 
to bear in the hand to the place of interment an ever¬ 
green sprig and there to deposit it in the grave as an 
avowal of belief in a life to come. It seems to me that 
in these ancient traditions and customs is to be found the 


THE MASTER MASON DEGREE 16 X 

true origin of our Marble Monument and that this 
emblem signifies that, while we mourn for and cherish 
the memory of our dead, yet we believe that they shall 
live and that we shall see them again. 

THE SETTING MAUL 

The Setting Maul is a wooden instrument used in set¬ 
ting firmly into the wall the polished stone, and is one 
of those traditionally said to have been used at the build¬ 
ing of Solomon’s Temple. It would very properly be in 
the hands of the three Fellow Crafts, who are in the Third 
Degree reputed to have made a notable use of it just 
before the completion of the Temple. From that inci¬ 
dent it is employed among us as an emblem the meaning 
of which is known to every Master Mason. 

It has, however, in different forms been employed as a 
symbol of destruction from prehistoric times. In Norse 
mythology, Thor, the god of Thunder, was represented 
as a powerful man armed with a mighty hammer, Miolnir 
(the smasher). Counterparts of this god and his for¬ 
midable weapon are found in many of the ancient religions 
and mythologies. 

In the Cabiric Mysteries the seven gods who slew the 
eight were called “Paticii,” or wielders of the hammer. 

THE ACACIA 

It was a custom of the Jews to plant at the head of the 
grave an acacia sprig for the double purpose of intimat¬ 
ing their belief in immortality and of marking its loca¬ 
tion, as to tread on a grave was by them regarded as 
extremely unlucky. To them, therefore, the acacia was, 
as it is to us, an emblem of immortality and of innocence. 

25 Pike, Morals and Dogma, pp. 17, 80, 378, 387. 


162 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


The true acacia is the thorny tamarisk which abounds in 
Palestine, and we have seen that strangely enough in the 
legend of Osiris his dead body was said to have been cast 
ashore at the foot of a tamarisk or acacia tree, and that this 
circumstance led to its discovery. This tree, owing to its 
hard-wood quality, its evergreen nature and its exceeding 
tenacity of life bore to the Egyptian and Jew the same 
symbolical significance it does to us. Of its wood was 
constructed the tabernacle, the table for the shew-bread, 
the ark of the covenant and the rest of the sacred furni¬ 
ture of the Temple, and of its boughs was woven the 
crown of thorns that was placed upon the head of Jesus 
of Nazareth. 

Each of the Ancient Mysteries possessed a sacred plant 
which was employed in their initiations and ceremonies 
for the same purpose and with the same symbolical sig¬ 
nificance as the acacia is by us. Among the Egyptians it 
was the Lotus, and the Erica, among the Greeks the 
Myrtle, and among the Scandinavians the Mistletoe. 
That a tree or plant had life-giving properties was an 
idea familiar to the Jews in the earliest times, as witness 
the Tree of Life mentioned in Genesis, and by New Testa¬ 
ment writers the immortality of man is likened to the re¬ 
currence of plant life. (I Cor. 15; John 12, 24.)/® 

DEATH 

Masonry, especially in the Third Degree, teaches us not 
to fear Death; in the fulness of time when his approach is 
due, to welcome the grim tyrant as a kind messenger, or, 
as that great philosopher and Mason, Albert Pike, ex¬ 
presses it: 

26^. Q, C., Vol. I, p. 57; Ibid., Vol. VI, pp. 9, 14; Mackey, En¬ 
cyclopedia of Freemasonry, p. 7; Mackey, Lexicon of Freemasonry, 
p. i6; “Masonic Magazine,” Vol. I, p. 126; Pike, Morals and Dogma, 
p. 82; Kenning, Cyclopedia of Freemasonry, p. 4. 


THE MASTER MASON DEGREE 


163 


‘‘The body is the gross representation, and as it 
were the temporary envelope of the Soul. The Soul 
can perceive by itself, and without the intervention of 
the bodily organs by means of its sensibility and 
lucidity, the things whether spiritual or corporeal, 
that exist in the Universe. There is no void in 
Nature; all is peopled. There is no real death in 
nature; all is living.” 

“What we call death is change. The Supreme 
Reason being unchangeable is therefore irnperishable. 
Thoughts once uttered are eternal. Is the source or 
spring from which they flow less immortal than they ? 
Could the Universe, the uttered thought of God, con¬ 
tinue still to exist if he no longer were? 

“The last victory any man can gain over death is 
to overcome the love of life, not through despair but 
through a loftier hope contained in Faith. To learn 
to overcome one’s self is to learn to live, and the 
austerities of Stoicism were not a vain ostentation 
of liberty. Every man who is prepared to die rather 
than abjure Truth and Justice truly lives for he is 
immortal in his soul. The object of all the ancient 
initiations was to find or form such men; and such 
is the object of Freemasonry. If thou art or canst 
become such an one thou wilt be worthy to be called 
Adept, and Knight of the Sun. 

“Death is not for the Sage. It is a phantom which 
ignorance and weakness of the multitude make hor¬ 
rible. The spirit is not disengaged that it may live 
no longer. Can thought and love die when the basest 
matter does not? If change should be called death, 
we die and are born again every day; for every day 
our forms change. Let us fear then to go out from 
and rend our garments but let us not dread to lay 
them aside when the hour for rest comes.” 

Nearly a thousand years ago, Omar Khayyam 
sang: 


164 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


''Death's terrors spring from baseless fantasy, 
Death yields the tree of immortality." 

William Cullen Bryant voices the usual Masonic view 
of Death in Thanatopsis: 

"So live, that when thy summons comes to join 
The innumerable caravan which moves 
To that mysterious realm where each shall take 
His chamber in the silent halls of death, 

Thou go not like the quarry>slave at night, 

Scourged to his dungeon; but, sustained and soothed 
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave 
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch 
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams." 

THE RESURRECTION 

This is a cherished belief among Masons at least in 
the great majority of countries. Men are still asking, 
as in the days of Paul, "How are the dead raised up? and 
with what body do they come?" And men have been 
attempting an answer ever since, yea, for centuries before 
the days of Paul. These attempted answers have resulted 
in the following theories: 

1. That all the particles of matter that have ever been 
in the body are brought together again; 

2. Only the particles present at death constitute the 
resurrection body; 

3. That certain more enduring parts are preserved, as 
an indestructible corporeal germ from which is made by 
divine power an organ of the soul adapted to its higher 
condition; 

4. That some of the particles of matter once consti¬ 
tuting remain and persist in the resurrection body, how¬ 
ever few; 


THE MASTER MASON DEGREE 165 

5. That there is a “vital germ” which preserves in a 
way not explained the identity of the two bodies; 

6. That a spiritual, ethereal, luminous body is evolved 
at the moment of death; 

7. That the plastic, formative principle of life {anima, 
psyche) is continually gathering and-casting off the matter 
it needs for a body wherever it may be; the continuance 
of the vital principle constitutes identity; however, the 
particles of matter may change, as in a flowing stream; 
that in the case of Christ and those living at his second 
coming, the body then present supplies the material; that 
in the case of the dead, the anima or psyche gathers in 
matter as it needs and makes the psychical body; that 
the fundamental “form” or principle of bodily organism, 
which here appropriates earthly materials, shall in the 
resurrection appropriate higher materials; 

8. That identity is in the spirit {nous), the rational, 
immortal principle which shows itself in the body which 
it occupies and stamps with its own personality; that 
identity in an inorganic body, as for example a stone, is 
in its substance and form, while in a person it rests in 
the consciousness; that the resurrection body is spiritual 
{soma pneumatikon) as opposed to the natural {soma 
psychikon) and that it is glorious, powerful, incorruptible 
and immortal. 

Long before Christ, the Sadducees and the Pharisees 
were warring over this question. The greatest theologians 
have differed upon it. Such fathers of Christianity as 
Origen and Augustine changed their views upon it. 
Western Christians have tended toward belief in a resur¬ 
rection of the fleshly body; Eastern Christians towards 
a spiritual resurrection.^^ 

Masonry requires each individual Mason to form his 
own opinion on these matters. We catalogue them here 
27 Universal Encyclopedia, “Resurrection.” 


166 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


merely as a caution against the treacherous ground we 
encroach upon when we try to define the views of Free¬ 
masonry on this subject. 

IMMORTALITY 

While Masonry does not exact a declaration of a belief 
in immortality as a prerequisite to admission into the 
Fraternity, yet undoubtedly it does teach this doctrine by 
most impressive means. We shall not attempt ourselves 
to state the bases for this belief but there has recently 
fallen into our hands such a beautiful and powerful state¬ 
ment of the argument we are constrained to quote the 
following passage. It is from the pen of Charles Allen 
Dinsmore, professor of Scriptural Interpretation of Lit¬ 
erature in the Yale Divinity School. He says: 

‘^Science can neither affirm nor deny immortality, 
but she has opened great spaces for this faith to live 
in. A man trained to our modern world-vision, 
gazing back over the long, toilsome, costly process 
from the fire mist up to man, and from primitive man 
to our present highly organised society, can not read¬ 
ily believe that he is contemplating the haphazard 
whirl of unintelligent forces, a riot of chance! 
Rather he detects an increasing purpose running 
through the ages, working toward man and the de¬ 
velopment of the race. Surely the unfolding purpose 
is prophetic of an outcome worthy of the process. 

If materialism is right, and humanity returns to the 
dust from whence it came, and the earth is at last 
only a burnt-out cinder; if the struggle of the ages, 
the prayers of the holy, the sacrifices of martyrs, the 
devotion of the brave, ultimate in dust and ashes, 
then we are put to ‘permanent intellectual confusion.' 
The ages have toiled and brought forth nothing. The 
Eternal has blown a soap-bubble, and painted it with 


THE MASTER MASON DEGREE 


167 


wondrous colours at awful cost of agony to the 
iridescent figures, and then allowed it to burst! The 
wisdom, the power, the sacrificial love, revealed in the 
long and orderly upward movement create the expec¬ 
tation that the culmination will be worthy of the cost. 

“The contrast between science and religion is not 
a contrast between knowledge and belief, but between 
two different kinds of knowledge. Religion can use 
the word ‘know’ as legitimately as science. When we 
become aware of ourselves we are aware of a Power 
not ourselves. By co-operating with this Power we 
can develop characters of moral strength and spiritual 
beauty. Virtue and its transforming energies we 
know as well as we know any scientific fact, even 
better, for we have the sure test of daily experience. 
Experience warrants us in affirming that God is the 
Power, not ourselves, which makes for righteousness. 
We take a step further. Power is an anthropomor¬ 
phic term, and so is personal spirit, but the latter is 
more significant; it represents higher worth. God 
can not be inferior to the highest symbol we use in 
interpreting Him. God can not be less than per¬ 
sonal; He may be infinitely more. By faith, there¬ 
fore, we think of Him as a living Spirit operating 
through the electric framework of the world. When 
we seek Him as the Father of our spirit in whom 
dwells all that we desire, we put this belief to the 
searching test of life. Thus, trusting and obeying, 
we meet with those responses which change faith into 
an assurance which often finds even the word ‘know* 
too feeble to express the experience.** 

THE POT OF BURNING INCENSE 

The Pot of Burning Incense was employed in Solomon*s 
Temple to produce a sweet savour in the Holy of Holies, 

28 Religious Certitude in an Age of Science, 


168 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


that is to say, according to the Jewish conceptions, in the 
actual presence of JHVH. It is not supposable that the 
intelligent Jew regarded this as other than symbolical of 
the offer of a pure heart as a sacrifice to the Deity. The 
bloody sacrifices of bullocks, lambs and goats, as well as 
the peace and sin offerings, were offered in less sacred 
precincts of the Temple and probably meant no more 
than to impress the. people that they should be ever gen¬ 
erous in dedicating their earthly wealth to the service of 
God and the hastening of His Kingdom, but the pure, 
immaterial offering of a delightful incense was to remind 
them that after all the only sacrifice worthy of Deity him¬ 
self was the spiritual and immaterial offering of a pure 
heart. 


THE BEEHIVE 

To the operative Mason could anything be more im¬ 
portant than industry? By it he lives, and by it were 
reared those dreams of architectural beauty which excite 
our wonder and please our fancy. 

Is it any less necessary to the Speculative Mason in his 
work of building human character? Is it not far more 
so? The temple of human life is incomplete unless every 
talent and every virtue is brought to the highest possible 
state. A few years at most suffice to complete and adorn 
our greatest structures. If the builder die before it is 
finished, others can carry it on to completion after him. 
But the time allotted to no man was ever sufficient for 
the complete development of all the possibilities of his 
mind and character. If he die before the work is fin¬ 
ished, none can take it up and finish it for him. How 
important, therefore, is it that not a moment of our 
time, that most precious gift, should be wasted! 

In all nature nothing is more constantly busy than the 


THE MASTER MASON DEGREE 169 

bee, and from ancient times it has been an emblem of 
industry. ^‘Busy as a bee’' has become an aphorism. A 
place of great industry we call a hive, and while I do not 
find it to have been employed in ancient symbolism, no 
symbol of labour could be more appropriate than a bee¬ 
hive. Strange to say, this symbol is now obsolete in 
England. 

Masonry in every degree, and in none more than the 
Master Mason Degree, signifies labour. Its very name 
is synonymous with labour and its every implement remi¬ 
niscent of labour. Toil is noble, idleness dishonour. 
Deity himself is recorded as having worked and we see 
on every hand the Titanic results of his labour. He 
reared the mountains, he laid down the plains, he made 
the rivers and the seas; the very smallest of these beyond 
the capabilities of millions of men. He deposited the 
rich ore in the bosom of the earth. He stocked the waters 
with fish and the land with an infinite variety of vegeta¬ 
tion and living animals both great and small. Finally he 
made man. 

It is by a steadfast adherence to the homely virtues, 
industry, economy, honesty, morality, religion, love of 
liberty, friends and country, those sheet-anchors of any 
true civilisation, and its refusal to take up with every 
wind of doctrine that blows, that has enabled Freemasonry 
to maintain itself so firmly in the estimation of mankind. 
Its membership is larger and its influence greater than 
ever before. 


SILENCE 

The Book of Constitutions guarded by the Tyler’s 
sword may be as is claimed, a new emblem among us, but 
the virtue it commemorates, silence, is an old and excel¬ 
lent one. The disciples of many of the ancient philoso- 


170 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


phers were required to practise absolute silence for long 
periods of probation, and so important was it deemed in 
their religious and philosophical systems that to it was 
allotted a special deity, Harpocrates, who was represented 
as full of eyes and ears, signifying that many things are 
to be seen and heard but little to be spoken.^® 

THE ALL-SEEING EYE 

The All-Seeing Eye is a very old symbol of Deity. 
The Egyptians represented Osiris, their chief god, by an 
open eye, which they placed in all his temples. The idea 
was also familiar to the Jews, for we read in Psalms 
(xxxiv, 15) that 'The eyes of Jehovah are upon the 
righteous,’' and (cxxi, 4) that "he that keepeth Israel 
shall neither sleep nor slumber.” In Proverbs (xv, 3) 
Solomon says "the eyes of Jehovah are in every place 
watching the evil and the good.” This symbol was to 
the Egyptians and the Jews the same that it is to us, the 
symbol of Deity manifested in his omnipresence. To us 
it is a warning that things we would not do before the 
eyes of men, yet do in secret, are nevertheless beheld by 
an eye that can explore our innermost thoughts and will 
witness against us before a tribunal where there are no 
perjured witnesses nor miscarriages of justice.®® 

THE ANCHOR AND THE ARK 

The Ark as a symbol in the Third Degree has been sup¬ 
posed by some to refer to the Jewish Ark of the Covenant, 
but others with more reason think it refers to the Ark of 
Noah. All the Ancient Mysteries seem to have contained 

2® Lodge of Research “Masonic Reprints,” No. i, p. 42; Pike, 
Morals and Dogma, p. 106; U. M. L., Vol. X, Part I, p. 54. 

A. Q. C., Vol. IV, p. 43; Kenning, Cyclopedia of Freemasonry, 
p. 18; Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, p. 57. 


THE MASTER MASON DEGREE 


171 


allusions more or less clear to the Deluge and Noah^s 
Ark. There being so many other symbols common to 
Masonry and the Mysteries, it is not surprising to find 
the Ark also employed as a Masonic symbol. To the pre- 
Christian ages, the idea of a regeneration, or a new birth, 
was as familiar as it is to us. In the Ancient Mysteries, 
as we are best able to judge, the tradition of the Deluge 
and the Ark, by which the human race was reputed to 
have been both purified and perpetuated, was in a variety 
of forms employed to teach this doctrine of regenera¬ 
tion. 

In the Funeral Ritual of the Egyptians, it is by means 
of the Ark, or boat, that the deceased passed to Aahlu or 
the place of the blessed in Amend.We are all familiar 
with the Grecian myth which represents Charon as 
ferrying the shades of the departed over the river Styx. 
Thus it is seen that the Ark has for ages been the symbol 
of the passage from this world to the next. We attach 
to it a very similar meaning; it symbolises to us that 
power or influence by which we are fitted for and raised 
to a higher state of existence in the life that is to come.®^ 

The Anchor does not seem to have belonged to ancient 
symbolism. Paul appears first to have employed it as an 
emblem of hope of immortality and bliss after this life 
(Heb. I, 19). Kip, in his Catacombs of Rome, says that 
the primitive Christians looked upon life as a stormy 
voyage and that of their safe arrival in port the anchor 
was a symbol. Mrs. Jameson says that the anchor is the 
Christian symbol of immovable firmness, hope and 
patience. Though apparently of Christian origin as a 
symbol, there is nothing narrow or sectarian in its sig¬ 
nificance, and it may with equal propriety be employed 

31 A. Q. C., Vol. II, p. 24. 

32 A. Q, C., Vol. I, p. 31; Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry^ 

p. 64. 


172 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


by Jew and Gentile, as well as by all others who share in 
the belief of a peaceful place of abode hereafter for those 
who have made a proper use of this life.®^ 

In the symbol of the Anchor and Ark we, therefore, 
see again pressed upon our attention the doctrines of 
Deity, the Mediator, regeneration, resurrection and im¬ 
mortality. 

THE FORTY-SEVENTH PROBLEM OF EUCLID 

The Forty-Seventh Problem of Euclid is the earliest 
Masonic symbol we have on record; it appears as the 
frontispiece to Anderson^s Book of Constitutions, pub¬ 
lished at London in 1723, accompanied by the word 
Eureka in Greek characters. It will be understood that 
prior to this date only one book on Freemasonry had been 
printed, and not till three-quarters of a century later did 
our Monitors contain illustrations of the emblems and 
symbols. So it happens that the Forty-Seventh Problem 
is absolutely, so far as is known, the earliest illustration 
of a Masonic symbol on record. 

In the text of the same book it is declared to be ‘‘if duly 
observed, the foundation of all Masonry, sacred, civil and 
military,” (p. 23) and in the second edition of this 
work (1738), he speaks of it as that “amazing proposi¬ 
tion which is the foundation of all Masonry, of whatever 
materials or dimensions” (p. 26). This figure is known 
by a variety of names. The Theorem of Pythagoras, the 
Theorem of the Bride, and the Theorem of the Three 
Squares. It was also known as the Gnomon, the Greek 
word for knowledge, and Plato in his Commonwealth, 
denominates it the “Nuptial Figure.” To our fathers in 
their school days, it was an object of dread, as the “Pons 
Assinorum,” or the Bridge of Asses. 

83 Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, p. 64 . 


THE MASTER MASON DEGREE 


173 


The remarkable properties of the right-angled triangle 
are well known to those who have studied geometry. 
Astronomers also are acquainted with its value; with it 
they measure the universe. Its usefulness is understood 
by architects and builders. Even those mechanics who 
are so ignorant that they do not know that a figure whose 
three sides are to each other as 3, 4 and 5 is a right-angled 
triangle, yet are aware of its convenience in making 
corners of a building perfectly square. When they meas¬ 
ure three feet along one wall and four feet along the 
other, if five feet will exactly reach across, they know 
that the corner is square. These things were well under¬ 
stood by ancient and mediaeval operative Masons, and they 
constituted a part of their trade secrets. 

But it is equally certain that to this beautiful triangle 
they ascribed moral and philosophical (not to say re¬ 
ligious) meanings which are now little understood by us. 

Of this figure Brother George William Speth says “it 
is certain that, while our mediaeval brethren may have been 
familiar with its symbolic meaning, we are not.” We 
are now merely told in our Monitors that “it teaches 
Masons to be general lovers of the arts and sciences.” 
Perhaps this is true, but we are given no hint as to why 
or how it does so. The deeper meanings of this symbol 
are wholly lost except to those who have made it a special 
study. Much of it we fear is lost beyond the hope of 
recovery. 


GEOMETRICAL FIGURES 

It is a curious fact, the psychological reason for which 
is not known, that dimensions increasing by half {e.g., 
a rectangle 20x30, a solid 20x30x45), and the ratios 
of the base, perpendicular and hypotenuse of a right- 
sM. g. C., Vol. Ill, p. 27 . 


174 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


angled triangle whose sides are as 3, 4, 5, are very pleas¬ 
ing to the eye. The equilateral triangle in ways not now 
fully understood seems also to enter into the dement of 
proportion in successful architecture. 

Odd as it may appear that geometrical figures such as 
points, lines, superficies and solids, angles, triangles, 
squares and circles should be invested with such mean¬ 
ing, yet the fact is undoubted. The ancient moral phi¬ 
losophers attached what appears to us an inordinate im¬ 
portance to geometry and geometrical figures. 

Plato, the greatest of philosophers, wrote four hundred 
years before Christ on the porch of his academy, “Let 
no one who is ignorant of geometry enter my doors.’’ 
He taught that God was “always geometrising,” and that 
“geometry rightly treated is the knowledge of the Eter¬ 
nal.” At his time, geometry was the only exact science; 
hence quite naturally a knowledge of it was deemed in¬ 
dispensable to one in search of philosophical truth. To 
Pythagoras, all the ancient writers give credit for first 
having raised geometry to the rank of a science, and 
Proclus tells us that he “regarded its principles in a purely 
abstract manner and investigated his theorems from the 
immaterial and intellectual point of view.” 

In short, “from the earliest times, the knowledge of 
geometry was looked upon not only as the foundation of 
all knowledge but even by the Greek philosophers as the 
very essence of their religion, the knowledge of God.” 

Numerous echoes of this ancient veneration for 
geometry are preserved in Freemasonry, thus affording 
further evidence of its great age. But of all geometrical 
figures the right-angled triangle, or set-square, was most 
revered by the ancients. It has from extremely remote 


THE MASTER MASON DEGREE 175 

ages and among extremely remote peoples borne profound 
moral significations. 

Confucius, the great Chinese teacher, tells us (481 
B.C.) that not till he was seventy-five years old ‘'could 
he venture to follow the inclination of his heart without 
fear of transgressing the limits of the square.’’ 

In a Chinese book written between 500 B.C. and 300 
B.C., called The Great Learning we are told that a man 
should not do unto another what he would not should 
be done to himself; “and this,” it is there said, “is called 
the principle of acting upon the square.” 

It is, to say the least, a strange coincidence that the 
Greek word for square, “gnomon,” also means knowledge 
and that the initial of this word, the Greek letter gamma 
is a perfect set-square. As said by Brother Sidney T. 
Klein, a distinguished Mason and architect of England, 
to the ancients “geometry was the foundation of knowl¬ 
edge and gnomon was the knowledge of the square.” 

In the symbolical writings of the Egyptians thousands 
of years ago, the square or right-angled triangle was the 
standard and symbol of perfection; it was also the symbol 
of life.^^ 

The ancients taught a very peculiar philosophy. Ac¬ 
cording to their ideas. Nature was tripartite, masculine, 
feminine, and offspring. This conception was applied in 
an endless variety of ways. The sun was regarded as 
masculine or active; the moon as feminine or passive; 
and Mercury as the offspring. So the ancient Egyptian 
Trinity consisted of Osiris the father, Isis the mother, 
and Her-ra, or Ilorus, the son. To represent this con¬ 
ception of Deity they employed a right-angled triangle 
whose sides were in the proportion of 3, 4 and 5, wherein 
the shortest side, 3, represented Osiris, 4 represented Isis, 

38^. Q, C., Vol. XIV, p. 30 . Q. C., Vol. X, pp. 84 , 92 . 

39 Ibid., p. 31. Ihid., p. 93. 


176 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


and 5, the resulting hypotenuse, represented Her-ra, the 
son, or the result of the union of the male and the female. 
This figure, therefore, became an emblem of life. 

But as it also represented Nature, and as they were 
wise enough to see that Nature uninterfered with was 
perfect, this figure became the recognised symbol of per¬ 
fection. 

This implement so useful among operative Masons in 
testing the perfection of the work was, therefore, appro¬ 
priately adopted by them as symbolical of that perfection 
which should mark the temple of human character. This 
symbolical square is the instrument by which all mental, 
moral and religious conduct is tested. 

THE HOUR GLASS 

Rev. A. F. A. Woodford, a distinguished Masonic 
scholar of England, expressed the opinion that the Hour 
Glass is not, strictly speaking, a Masonic symbol. This is 
probably based upon the fact that evidence is wanting of 
its ancient employment as a symbol. The antiquity of 
its use as a measure of time is, however, undoubted, and 
it is a most fit emblem of the flight of time and of wast¬ 
ing away of our lives. If it is a recent acquisition to our 
ritual, we shall not quarrel with the Monitor maker who 
introduced it.^^ 


THE SCYTHE 

In ancient symbolism, the scythe was one of the attri¬ 
butes of Saturn because he was reputed to have taught 
men agriculture. But Saturn was also the god of Time, 
and, as by another ancient myth human life was said to 
be a brittle thread spun by the three Fates, it is natural 
that this peaceful implement of agriculture should be- 

42 Kenning, Cyclopedia of Freemasonry, p. 318 . 


THE MASTER MASON DEGREE 


177 


come the symbol of the power that severs the slender 
thread and puts an end to our existence."*^ 

THE COFFIN 

To US the coffin is an obvious emblem of death, but it 
has sometimes been claimed that it would not be so to 
the Jews, who anciently buried their dead in shrouds and 
winding sheets only. But in the Ancient Mysteries of 
those peoples surrounding the Jews the candidate was 
placed in a coffin or chest as a symbolical representation 
of death. This custom, as well as the use by Egyptians of 
the coffin for burial, was undoubtedly well known to the 
Jews whether they practised it or not. 

The ancient symbolism of the coffin seems to have been 
intimately connected with that of the Ark. In fact in 
Hebrew the word aron denoted both. But the subject is 
too recondite to be entered upon further at this time.** 

! 

CONCLUSION 

Some have questioned whether those engaged in the 
operative art of building could comprehend such abstruse 
symbolism as that we have herein attempted to outline. 
Whether they understood it or not, it is certain that they, 
at least those of them engaged in temple and church build¬ 
ing, employed it. The important structures devoted to 
purposes of worship, from the most ancient period 
through mediaeval to modern times, abound in symbolism. 
It is doubtless true that many of these operative work¬ 
men did not know the meaning of their own symbols, 
just as many Speculative Masons do not now know them. 
But we must bear in mind that operative Masonry in 

Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, p. 700 . 

Q. C., Vol. I, p. 31 ; Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, 

pp. 64, 171. 


178 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 

ancient and mediaeval times did embrace classes that well 
may be supposed to have understood them. They were 
in the closest association with the priestly and monastic 
orders to whom we are indebted for most of the learning 
of the ancients which has come down to us. Architecture 
and its kindred sciences were until comparatively recent 
times the most honourable of all callings. 

Brother Albert Pike claims that “during the splendour 
of mediaeval operative Masonry the art of building stood 
above all other arts, and made all others subservient to it; 
that it commanded the services of the most brilliant in¬ 
tellects and of the greatest artists.” 

It must be admitted that men like these were capable 
of appreciating and preserving the most refined symbol¬ 
ism. Brother Pike further declares that they “revelled in 
symbolism of the most recondite kind; that geometry was 
the handmaid of symbolism; that it may be said that sym¬ 
bolism is speculative geometry.” 

Brother Gould has admitted his belief that the Masons 
of the fourteenth century, or earlier, were capable of 
understanding and did understand to a greater extent than 
ourselves the meaning of a great part of the symbolism 
which has descended from ancient to Modern Masonry. 

In conclusion, permit us to say, that for every state¬ 
ment herein contained there is respectable Masonic au¬ 
thority. It is not claimed, however, that on none of 
these questions is there difference of opinion. Where this 
is the case, we have been compelled simply to adopt that 
view which appeared most reasonable, and did not have 
time always to state the different views and the reasons 
for each. This each student must do for himself. Our 
expectation has not been to accomplish more than to 
arouse in some, if not all, of you, a curiosity to learn 
more of our beautiful and instructive symbolism. 

A. Q. C.f Vol. Ill, p. 15 . Ibid., p. 16 . 


APPENDIX 



\ 

t, 


i 


I 


4 



y. 

• 

» V 

• 4 * 

»rA 

1,1 

' •' *1 

.'1 



/ a' J 


Appendix 


QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 

Part I: E. A. DEGREE 

What is the relationship of symbols to written language? 
To thoughts? What is the difference between symbols and 
figures of speech? What part does symbolism play in Masonry? 
Why must Masons study symbolism? 

Name of the Fraternity. —Why are we “Freemasons”? What 
is the unit plan of the organisation? 

Definition of Masonry. —What is Mackey’s? Explain “sys¬ 
tem,” “morality,” “allegory,” “symbols,” as used in this defini¬ 
tion. Do symbols vary in meaning from age to age ? With dif¬ 
ferent people? Do we know all the Masonic meanings of our 
symbols? Shall we ever know them all? 

Initiation. —What, in brief, is the symbolism of the entire 
Entered Apprentice Degree? The Fellow Craft Degree? The 
Master Mason Degree? Of all three together? 

The Lodge. —Of what is the “oblong square” a symbol? How 
did it become such? Does it throw any light on the age of 
Masonry? Why is initiation a symbol of birth? 

Preparation. —Explain the relation of a candidate’s prepara¬ 
tion to the Aryan race. To other races. Explain the sym¬ 
bolism of preparation in terms of equality. What is the rela¬ 
tion between child and man, man and the race? Between indi¬ 
vidual moral progress and racial social progress? 

Secrecy. —What is its value to the profane? To the Master 
Mason? What is the primary value of secrecy? What is its 
chief value? What is the symbol of secrecy and why? 

Tool Symbols. —Why is the tool important to man? Why is 
the tool symbol of especial importance to Masons? 

Twenty-four-inch Gauge. —Of what a symbol? How differ¬ 
ent from the Scythe? What does it teach? 

Common Gavel. —Of what a symbol? Why? Its lesson? 

181 


182 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 

Chisel. —Of what a symbol? Why? In what degree used? 
In what country used in Blue Lodge work? 

Key. —Of what a symbol? When? 

Solomon^s Temple. —Why chosen as a symbol? Is the 
Temple legend true? Is it fiction? What plausible basis exists 
for it? 

Modesty of True Character. —^Why no tool of iron in the 
building of the Temple? Of what is it a symbol with us? 

Hale. —Explain the several forms and real meaning of the 
word. How is it often misunderstood? 

Tile, Tiler, Tyler. —Which is the correct spelling? Why? 
Whence came the symbol ? 

Due Guard. —What is the probable origin of the words? 

Cable Tow. —How do the Brahman’s use a binding cord? 
What did a candidate in the ancient mysteries mean when he 
agreed to “submit to the chain”? From what and to what does 
the Cable Tow lead a Mason? 

Circumambulation. —^What great truth is taught by it in the 
lodge? Explain “faith” as used in the Entered Apprentice 
Degree. 

Upright. —How do people of the Orient approach authority? 
How a Mason? How, therefore, does a Mason approach the 
East? Explain the symbolism, of the plumb. 

Approaching the East. —Why do we consider the East as the 
source of knowledge? What did the Egyptians signify by 
“West”? When did modern people take up the same signifi¬ 
cance ? 

Dignity of Man. —How does the Masonic teaching differ from 
that of certain creeds as to the worth of man? 

Bible. —Is it a Masonic symbol? Of what? What other 
books are similar symbols? When is it proper to use them 
instead of the Bible? Are Masons required to believe the 
Bible? What is the Masonic interpretation of Biblical stories? 
Do any Grand Lodges insist on a literal belief in the inspiration 
of the Bible? Does the Bible as a symbol increase or decrease 
differences between men of differing faiths? How? 

Apron. —What are “Golden Fleece” ? “Roman Eagle ?” “Star 
and Garter?” Explain the good and bad points of knighthood 
and chivalry in the chivalric ages. Contrast with Masonic ideals. 
What does Masonry teach? Why is the lamb a symbol? 
Whence came the symbol of the goat? Of what is it a symbol? 
Is there a Masonic goat? If so, where did we get it? 


APPENDIX 


183 


White.— three colours are symbolic in the Three De¬ 
grees? Is white as a symbol universal? Of what is it a 
symbol ? Why ? 

Black. —Of what a symbol? Why? 

Blue. —What is the origin of “Blue Lodge”? What is the 
meaning of blue as a Masonic symbol? 

Gloves. —Were gloves always symbols? Are they used as a 
similar symbol to the apron? Where? Do all Grand Lodges 
sanction the use of gloves by Fellow Crafts? 

Definition of a Lodge. —Why symbols are required in a lodge ? 
Can a lodge exist without these symbols? Without what they 
stand for? Could a lodge be held without some symbols? 

High Hills and Low Vales. —What was the origin of such 
meeting places? What is the symbolic significance? 

Valley of Jehoshaphat. —Whence does the expression come? 
Has it now a Masonic significance? What was its ancient 
meaning ? 

Untempered Mortar. —How used in Operative Masonry? 
What is its speculative meaning? 

Wisdom, Strength and Beauty. —What great meaning have 
these three, together? How does perfection in a building de¬ 
pend on them? Of a universe? Of a character? What did 
the Greeks think of these three? The Hebrews? Socrates? 
Aristotle? What does the Bible say of them? What officers do 
they represent in a lodge? Why? 

Covering of a Lodge. —What does “cover” mean? What is 
its Masonic meaning? Of what is our covering a symbol? Is 
the symbolic covering always shown on the actual ceiling? 

Ornaments of the Lodge. —How do they connect a lodge with 
the whole earth ? What does indented tessel mean ? What does 
it symbolise? To what does the Blazing Star allude? What 
does it represent to Masons? Has it more than one meaning? 

Three Great Lights. —What are they? What do they repre¬ 
sent to Masons? Are they interdependent? Have they but 
one, or several symbolisms, each ? 

Three Lesser Lights. —Name them. Is the Worshipful Master 
a symbol? Of what? How came the Lesser Lights to be 
symbols ? Why are these lesser lights ? Has one of them refer¬ 
ence to Masonic points of the compass? 

Nature. —Why has Masonry so many symbols taken from 
nature? Is nature study important to Masons? Why? How 
big is the universe? 


184 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 

Brotherly What is its symbol? From whence came 

the symbol ? How is brotherly love different from fidelity ? Is 
it superior? What was the sacred oil? Who could use it? Of 
what is it symbolic? What was the dew on Mount Hermon? 
Why is brotherly love compared to it? 

Relief of the Distressed. —Of what is the good Samaritan a 
symbol ? 

Truth. —What is its symbol ? Why do men fear truth ? Who 
are most afraid of it? Do Masons fear truth? Has God written 
truth elsewhere than, in sacred books? Is an unsuccessful effort 
to learn truth without reward? 

Square. —Symbolised what? How old is this symbol? How 
old is it known to be in Masonry? 

Level. —What does it teach? What sort of equality does it 
not teach? What is Masonic equality? What was equality 
in feudal days? 

Plunih. —Is it a natural or a forced symbol? Of what? How 
old is it? 

Jacob's Ladder. —How did the ladder become a symbol ? Old 
or young ? How old ? How many rungs has our representation 
of Jacob’s ladder? What do they represent? 

Situation of a Lodge. —Why East and West? Are all lodges 
so situated? If not, why not? 

Point in a Circle. Parallel Lines. —Were the Saints John 
Masons? Are they symbols? Of what? Why do we honour 
them? Give another instance of Masonic honour to the poor 
and lowly. What qualities of a man does Masonry recognise? 

Cardinal Virtues. —Who named them long ago? When? Is 
the list open to criticism? What criticism? Name them. Give 
their Masonic meaning. How does Masonic faith differ from 
theological faith? With what does Masonry support and 
sweeten faith? 

Chalk, Charcoal and Clay. —Ancient symbols or modern? Of 
what? From what do the words “fervency” and “zeal” come? 

Northeast Corner. —^Why are corner stones laid there ? What 
is Pike’s explanation? Has the practice of standing the En¬ 
tered Apprentice there a symbolic meaning ? What is it ? 

Whence Came You? —Is it a symbol? Is the answer sym¬ 
bolic? Explain both symbolisms. 

What Came We flere to Do? —What difference is there be¬ 
tween the Masonic answer and that of the Pharisee? Did we 


APPENDIX 


185 


come to do an unselfish task? What does Masonry reform? 
Should it join reform movements? Why not? 


Part II: FELLOW CRAFT DEGREE 

Why is it desirable that ceremonies be brief? Can we learn 
all of a degree while experiencing it? Have all Masonic sym¬ 
bols just one meaning? Is this an advantage, and why? How 
do the “mysteries” differ from the “secrets” of Freemasonry? 
Explain the method of teaching in Masonry. Does it appeal to 
all minds? Why? What does the lodge represent in Masonic 
symbolism? Why is the Fellow Craft Degree so little under¬ 
stood? Why misunderstood? What part of life does the degree 
illuminate? What relation does it bear to Entered Apprentice 
Degree and Master Mason Degree? Compare preparations for 
the Entered Apprentice and Fellow Craft Degrees. What sym¬ 
bolism refers to prenatal conditions? Is there any part of life 
from conception to resurrection not represented in Masonic sym¬ 
bolism ? What is the first important lesson given the candidate ? 
Why are moral teachings essential? Why especially essential 
to Masonic training? Explain the symbolism of the human 
body as a Temple of God. What lesson is taught when the 
candidate is placed in the N. E. Corner? How is a candidate 
for the Fellow Craft Degree to be regarded? Why are the 
moral lessons of the Entered Apprentice Degree repeated? In 
what way does the general purpose of the Fellow Craft Degree 
differ from the Entered Apprentice? What is the great theme 
of the Fellow Craft Degree? 

Jewels of a Fellow Craft, —Name them. What do they 
typify? 

Working Tools of a Fellow Craft. —What are they? How 
applied by operative Masons? How by Freemasons? Why 
appropriate to a Fellow Craft? Has the Masonical application 
of the square an ancient counterpart? 

Boas and Jackin. —Why were the pillars placed? Where? 
Have they another than the ritual meaning ? Explain the moral 
significance of the names. What is the symbolical signifi¬ 
cance ? 

Globes. —How do we know the idea of globes is modern? 
What does the Bible say? Are the Brazen Pillars Egyptian? 


186 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


Why do we think so? What is the relation between lily-work, 
Egyptian lotus buds and our globes? Give another possible 
explanation of the globes. 

Lily-work. —What was the Egyptian symbol of peace? 

Net Work. —Symbol of what? Why? Does it bear on the 
antiquity of Masonry? What do you know of the Dionysian 
Architects ? 

Pomegranate. —Is it an odd symbol? Is it well understood? 
Why is it a symbol of plenty? What did ancient writers say 
of it? 

Operative and Speculative Masonry. —Discuss non-operative 
Masonry and Speculative Masonry. Were operative Masons 
originally Speculative? How did they become so? What may 
have been the original object of secrecy? How did non-Masons 
get into ancient lodges? What several kinds of lodges resulted? 
How recently? 

Royal Tradition. —Is this serious or humorous? Is it laughed 
at? Why? What other tradition is ridiculed? What reasons 
have you for thinking Masonic antiquity is not a myth? How 
could operative builders become philosophers? Why would 
great temple builders be friendly to kings? Why would rulers 
consider them as equals? 

Winding Stairs. —Of what symbol? Why a good symbol? 
How many steps? What was JAH to the Hebrews? What 
was its numerical equivalent? Why were ancient temples ap¬ 
proached by an odd number of steps. What in the Fellow Craft 
Degree does this remind you of? 

Science of Numbers. —What was this anciently ? What great 
Hebrew book developed from it ? How do our 3, 5 and 7 steps 
confirm the antiquity of Masonry? 

Three Steps. —What do they signify? How does our society 
correspond with society in general? 

Officers of the Lodge. —What practical symbolism do they 
bear ? Do their obligations teach civic duty ? What duty ? 

Five Senses. —Why used as symbols on the stairs? Which 
are most important to Masons? What mental powers do the 
senses serve? What is the importance of imagination? Reason? 
Are these symbols in English work ? Why not ? 

Five Orders in Architecture. —Does this reference instruct in 
the antiquity of Masonry? Do students of ancient peoples find 
architecture important ? How ? 

Seven Liberal Arts. —Do they include all knowledge? Did 


APPENDIX 


187 


they ever? What do you read from this of the antiquity of 
Masonry? What were the trivium and quadrivium? What do 
they mean ? 

Letter G. —In what lodges should it not be used ? What other 
symbols could be universally used in place of it? 

Geometry. —What is the common definition? Masonic defini¬ 
tion? Was it important to operative Masons? Why? Why 
important to us? Why did it become anciently a symbol of 
moral perfection? Is that its meaning to-day? How does the 
ancient symbolism bear on the age of Masonry? 

Wages of a Fellow Craft. —What were they? Of what are 
they the symbols? Can you explain how such symbols might 
have come to be used? 


Part III: THE MASTER MASON DEGREE 

Review the symbolism of the Entered Apprentice, Fellow 
Craft and Master Mason Degrees as a whole. What is the test 
of worth of a Masonic symbol? What is the test of worth of 
meaning given a Masonic symbol? 

Antiquity of Masonic Symbolism. —Why is the age of Ma¬ 
sonic symbols important? Quote several Masonic authorities. 
Do we know all the meanings of all Masonic symbols? Why 
do we study ancient records? What were the “ancient mys¬ 
teries”? How old is the oldest known? Were they all essen¬ 
tially the same? Name some ancient gods. How did the ancient 
trinity differ from ours ? How may secret worship have begun ? 
Were they similar to Masonry? What, anciently, was initia¬ 
tion? What Masonic similarity is there to the Mithraic Mys¬ 
tery? Did they use legends? What was the legend of Osiris? 
Has it Masonic similarities? Has it Christian similarities? Tell 
some similar legends to other lands. Summarise the learning 
of the ancient mysteries. What is Gould’s conclusion? 

Third Degree Symbols. —What does the lodge symbolise in 
the first two degrees? In the Third Degree? Why is the 
Master Mason’s Degree especially solemn? Why does it call 
for especial reverence? What Temple do we all build? What 
is the foundation for the idea that the body is a Temple? What 
is light in the Entered Apprentice Degree? Fellow Craft De¬ 
gree? Master Mason Degree? How does the symbolism of 
the square and compasses differ in each of the three degrees? 


188 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 

Give another explanation from that of the ritual for their posi¬ 
tions in the three degrees. 

Discalceation. —How does it differ in the Entered Apprentice 
and Master Mason Degrees? Give instances of the antiquity 
of the custom. What is it that we appeal to in each of the three 
degrees ? 

Circumambulation. —Is it an ancient symbol? Explain some 
possible origins. What is the symbolism of its direction? What 
is the symbolism of its reversal in the Master Mason Degree? 

Working Tools. —What are they? In America? In Eng¬ 
land? From what is the trowel derived? 

Broached Thurnal. —Where was it once used? When dis¬ 
carded? Why? 

Deity and Immortality. —What is the sixth sense ? What does 
it reveal to us? Do men’s ideas of God change from age to 
age? Why? Is it God or man which changes? Was an idol 
a god or a symbol? Who feared the use of human effigy for 
God? Why? What symbols does Masonry use for God? 

Hiramic Legend. —Is it similar to ancient mystery legends? 
Is Abif a surname? How does the Bible translate it? How do 
we translate it? What does Hiram mean? What is Pike’s 
idea of it? Is it Christian? Has the legend an astronomical 
significance? What has this to do with the number of the 
Fellow Craft team? What was the ancient idea of the trinity? 
The modern idea? How does Masonry use them? Is there a 
Biblical story similar to the Hiramic legend? What myth is 
similar? How old is the legend? How do we know? 

Three Ruffians. —Have any ancient gods similar names? Of 
what nation? Give one explanation of the symbolism of the 
three ruffians. 

Low Twelve. —Had the number 12 an ancient meaning? 
What? What other meaning attaches to twelve? What is 
thirteen? Why is it “unlucky”? 

Lion of the Tribe of Judah. —What is the literal meaning of 
the words? What is the symbolic meaning? Is it Christian or 
Jewish or both? What curious Egyptian picture shows a lion 
symbol? Of what? 

Five Points of Fellowship. —Are they connected with ancient 
architecture? What is a Pentalpha? Was it a humane as well 
as a builder’s significance? What change is made in the 
symbol by elevating one point? Two points? What are the 


APPENDIX 


189 


English five points ? When did our change in them take place ? 
Which do you consider correct? What is the ancient meaning 
of the winged foot? What is the ancient meaning of two 
clasped hands? Does a symbolic interpretation of the Hiramic 
legend deny its actual truth? 

Lost Word. —Is the “lost word” an actual lost syllable, or is 
it a symbol? What did “the Word” mean to the Jews? How 
does St. John use this meaning? Was this idea only a Jewish 
one ? Define the Greek word “Logos.” What modern word do 
we get from it? Is the power of speech a wonder? Why is it? 
Explain the Masonic Symbolism of the search for “the word.” 
Why do we receive only the substitute word? Will we ever re¬ 
ceive the true word? Has this symbolism any bearing on the 
age of Masonry? 

Marble Monument. —Is the monitorial explanation satisfac¬ 
tory? What Egyptian legend may have given rise to our use 
of this symbol? What did Apuleius say? When? What is the 
symbolism of the urn? Is there a better explanation than that 
given in the Monitor? 

Setting Maul. —Of what a symbol? Is it ancient? Give sev¬ 
eral illustrations. 

Acacia. —How did the ancient Jews use it? What is the real 
acacia? In what Egyptian legend is it used? What famous 
objects were made of its wood? Do any Mysteries use plants 
as symbols of immortality? What mysteries? What plants? 

Death. —What does Masonry teach of it? What does Pike 
say of it? Omar? Bryant? 

Resurrection. —Give some theories as to the resurrection? 
Does Masonry teach of them? All of them? What does 
Masonry teach of a future life? 

Immortality. —How does Masonry teach it? Do we exact a 
belief in it? Why do you believe in it? 

Pot of Incense. —How used in Solomon’s Temple? What did 
the Jews mean by it? Why is it a symbol of the best offering 
to God? 

Beehive. —Is hurry important in operative Masonry? Why? 
In Speculative Masonry? Why is labour held to be honour¬ 
able? What is the symbolism of the bee? The hive? What 
makes Masonry live? 

Silence. —Is the Book of Constitutions and the Tiler’s Sword 
a new or old symbol ? What was the ancient philosophic teach- 


190 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


ing about silence ? Who was Harpocrates ? What did he teach ? 

All-Seeing Eye. —Whence came this symbol? Has it a warn¬ 
ing? How do we use it? 

Anchor and Ark. —Which ark is meant ? Was there a deluge 
legend before that of the Old Testament? What did it teach? 
How was the ark used in Egyptian funerals? In the Greek 
mythology ? What do we read in it ? Who first used the anchor 
as a symW of hope? 

Forty-seventh Problem of Euclid. —Who was Euclid? When 
was the symbol first used Masonically ? What other names have 
we for it? What is it? Do we know all its symbolism? Will 
we ever fully understand it ? 

Geometrical Figures. —Which ones especially please us? 
What did Plato teach of geometry? Why was it more im¬ 
portant in ancient times than now? Was the square especially 
significant? To the Chinese? The Greeks? The Egyptians? 
Explain the relation of the right square to the Egyptian trinity. 
How did it come to be a symbol of perfection. 

Hour Glass. —Is this a real Masonic symbol? 

Scythe. —Had it anciently a symbolism? How did it come to 
its present significance? 

Coffin. —Was the chest used in the ancient mysteries? How? 

Conclusion. —Did the operative Masons understand these 
symbols? Did they understand them as we do? Do all Specu¬ 
lative Masons understand them? Do you understand them? 


INDEX 


Acacia, the, i6i. 

Akin’s Georgia Manual, 99. 
All-seeing eye, 147, 170. 

Allegory, 15, 22. 

Anchor, the, 170. 

Ancient mysteries, the, 133. 
Anderson’s Book of Constitu¬ 
tions, iy2. 

Antiquity of Masonic symbol¬ 
ism, 132. 

Apron, the, 48. 

Architecture, the five orders 
in, 121. 

Ark, the, 170. 

Aum, 139. 

Bacchus, 138. 

Bacon’s Wisdom of the An¬ 
cients, 16. 

Baxter, Mrs. Lucy, 109. 

Beauty, 56. 

Beehive, the, 168. 

Bel, 153. 

Bible, the, 44. 

Black, 52. 

Blue, 53. 

Blue Masonry, the chisel ab¬ 
sent in, 33. 

Boaz and Jachin, 105. 

Book of Wisdom, 58. 

Brace, C. L., 69. 

Brace’s Gesta Christi, 6 g. 
“Bright Mason,” a, 97. 

Broached thurnel, the, 146. 
“Brotherly love,” 68, 143. 

191 


Bunyan’s Pilgrim's Progress, 

i6. 

Bryant, William Cullen, 164. 

Cabiric Mysteries, 161. 

Cable tow, 39. 

Cardinal virtues, 86. 

Chalk, 89. 

Character, modesty of true, 
37 ‘ 

Charcoal, 89. 

Chisel, the, 33. 

Cicero, 135. 

Clay, 89. 

Circumambulation, 41, 144. 
Clarke, Adam, 143. 

Code of the Masonic Law, 76. 
Coffin, the, 177. 

Colours, 52-53. 

Compasses, the, 48, 142, 145. 
Confucius, 175. 

Cornish, F. W., 49. 

Coulton, George Gordon, 48. 
Covering of the Lodge, 59. 
Cumberland, Bishop of Peter¬ 
borough, no. 

Death, 162. 

Deity, 147. 

Dignity of Man, 43. 

Dinsmore, Charles Allen, 166. 
Discalceation, 40, 143. 
Distressed, relief of, 70. 
Dudley’s Naology, 25. 

Due guard, 39. 


192 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


East, the, 42. 

Egypt, mysteries of, 136. 

Emulation working, 33. 

Enfield, 122. 

English Monitors, 121. 

Entered Apprentice Degree, 
13, 26; represents youth, 99. 

Erica, the, 162. 

Euclid, forty-seventh problem 
of, 172. 

Eureka, the word, 172. 

Fellow Craft Degree, 97; can¬ 
didate regarded as a seeker 
after knowledge, 102; jewels 
of, 104; represents manhood, 
99; wages of, 127. 

Fellowship, five points of, 155. 

Five Senses, the, 119. 

Freeman, Edward A., 48. 

Freemasonry, more ancient 
than Golden Fleece, 51; 
more honourable than the 
Star and Garter, 51. 

G, the letter, 122. 

G. A. O. T. U., 149. 

Gauge, the twenty-four inch, 

32. 

Gavel, the common, 32. 

Geometrical figures, 173. 

Geometry, 124. 

Globes, the, 106. 

Gloves, 53. 

Gothe, 21. 

Gould, Robert Freke, 18, 132, 
140, 178. 

Great Lights, the Three, 61. 

Greece, mysteries of, 138. 

Guard, due, 39. 


Hemming, Dr., 121. 

High hills, 54. 

Hiramic Legend, 147, 149. 
Horsley, J. W., 104. 

Hour glass, the, 176. 

Hughan, William James, 132. 

Immortality, 147, 166. 

Incense, pot of burning, 167. 
India, mysteries of, 138. 
Initiation, 24. 

Isis, 137. 

Jachin and Boaz, 105. 

Jacob’s Ladder, 82. 

Jah, 153. 

Jameson, Mrs., 171. 
Jehoshaphat, valley of, 55. 
Jehudi, Solomon, 107. 

Jewels, of a Fellow Craft, 
104; of a Lodge, 74. 

Judah, lion of the tribe of, 

154. 

Keller, Helen, 119. 

Key, the, 34. 

Kip’s Catacombs of Rome, 

171. 

Klein, Sidney T., 67, 175. 

Legends of the Temple, 147. 
Lesser Lights, the Three, 62. 
Letter G, the, 123. 

Level, the, 80. 

Liberal arts and sciences, the 
seven, 122. 

Light, 73. 

Lights, the Three Great Lights, 
61; the Three Lesser Lights, 
62. 

Lily-work, 108. 

Lines, parallel lines, 84. 


Hale, 38. 


INDEX 


Lion of the tribe of Judah, 
IS4. 

Lodge, covering of the, 59; 
definition of a, 54; jewels of 
the, 74; meaning of, 24; of¬ 
ficers of, 118; ornaments of 
the, 60; situation of, 83. 

Lolus, the, 162. 

Lost word, the, 157. 

Love, Brotherly, 68. 

Low twelve, 154. 

Low vales, 54. 

Mackey, Dr., 100, 117, 123. 

Man, dignity of, 43. 

Marble monument, 160. 

Mason, etymology of the word, 

19. 

Masonry, definition of, 21; 
etymology of the word, 19; 
operative and speculative, 
no. 

Master Mason Degree, 131. 

Master Mason, represents old 
age, 99. 

Maul, the setting, 161. 

Metaphors, 15. 

Mistletoe, the, 162. 

Mithras, mysteries of, 140. 

Modesty of true character, 37. 

Moller, George, 122. 

Monument, the marble, 160. 

Moon, the, 62. 

Moore, George Fleming, 29. 

Morality, 22. 

Morals and Dogma, 68. 

Mortar, untempered, 56. 

Myrtle, the, 162. 

Mysteries, of Egypt, 136; of 
Greece, 138; of India, 138; 
of Mithras, 140; teachings 
of the, summarised, 139; the 


193 

ancient, 133; the Cabiric, 
161. 

Nature, 64. 

Network, the, 109. 

Northeast corner, 89. 

Numbers, science of, 115. 

Officers of the Lodge, 118. 
Oliver, Dr. George, 40, 121, 

145. 

Om, 139, 153. 

Om£|,r Khayyam, 163. 

Order of the Garter, 48. 

Order of the Golden Fleece, 
48. 

Operative and speculative 
masonry, no. 

Ornaments of the Lodge, 60. 
Osiris, 136. 

Parallel lines, 84. 

Pausanias, no. 

Pencil, the, 145. 

Pentalpha, the, 156. 

Perfect youth, 75. 

Pike, General Albert, 13, 26, 
148,178 
Plato, 174. 

Plumb, the, 82. 

Pomegranate, the, no. 

Pot of Incense, 147, 167. 
Preparation of the candidate, 
26. 

Proclus, 174. 

Pythagoras, 116, 143, 174. 

Questions for discussion, 
181. 

Ravenscroft, W., 109. 

Relief of distressed, 70. 


194 SYMBOLISM OF THE THREE DEGREES 


Resurrection, the, 164. 

Rhea, 138. 

Right-angled triangle, the, 
i 73 i 174. 

Ritual, memorising the, 17. 
Roman Eagle, the, 48. 

Royal Arch degree, 159. 

Royal Tradition, 112. 

Ruffians, the Three, 153. 
Rylands, W. H., 13. 

Saints John’s Days, 84. 
Secrecy, 28. 

Senses, the five, 119. 

Setting maul, the, 161. 

Seven liberal arts and sciences, 
122. 

Silence, 169. 

Simpson, William, 132. 

Skirret, the, 145. 

Solomon, 105. 

Solomon’s Temple, 34. 
Songhurst, W. J., 39. 
Speculative and operative 
masonry, iio. 

Speculative freemasonry, de¬ 
velopment of, 23. 

Speth, George William, 132, 
146, 173. 

Science of numbers, 115. 

Scott, Leader, 109. 

Scottish Rite Degrees, 65. 
Scythe, the, 48, 176. 

Square, the, 48, 79, 142. 
Stairs, the winding, 115. 
Statius, Achilles, no. 

Strength, 56, 59. 

Steps, the Three, 117. 
Stukeley, Dr. William, 14. 

Sun, the, 62. 

Symbolism, 14; antiquity of 
masonic, 132. 


Symbols, 22; third degree, 140; 

tool, 29. 

System, 22. 

Temple, a, 18. 

Temple, legends of the, 147. 
Third degree symbols, 140. 
Three Grand Masters, 147. 
Three Ruffians, the, 153. 

Three steps, the, 117, 

Thurnel, the broached, 146. 
Tile, 38. 

Tiler, 38. 

Tool symbols, 29. 

Tools, working, 104, 145. 

Tow, cable, the, 39. 

Toy, Dr. Crawford H., 58. 
Tradition, royal, 112. 

Triangle, the, 147. 

Trinity, the, 135. 

Trowel, the, 145. 

Truth, 71. 

Twelve, low, 154. 

Twenty-four inch gauge, the, 

32. 

Tyler, 38. 

“Universality,” 108. 
Untempered mortar, 56. 
Upright, 41. 

Valley of Jehoshaphat, 55. 
Virtues, cardinal, 86. 
Vitruvius, 116. 

Wages of a Fellow Craft, 
127. 

West, the, 43. 

“What came we here to do,” 
92. 

“Whence came you,” 91. 
White, 52. 


INDEX 


195 


Williams, Henry Smith, 31. 
Winding Stairs, the, 115. 
Winged foot, the, 157. 

Wisdom, 56. 

Woodford, Rev. A. F. A., 176. 


Word, the lost, 157. 
Working tools, see “Tools.” 

Yarker, John, 146. 

Youth, perfect, 75. 





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